


What Dwells In the Forest

by KeybladeDetweiler



Category: Gravity Falls, Over the Garden Wall (Cartoon), The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Canon - Book & Movie Combination, Crossover, Gen, OC
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-09
Updated: 2015-11-17
Packaged: 2018-03-29 16:42:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 23,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3903439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KeybladeDetweiler/pseuds/KeybladeDetweiler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dipper runs off into the woods after some big trouble at the Mystery Shack, and Alex, Wirt, and Frodo hear the news and go off to find him. But the trouble he's gotten himself into might just be too much for the four of them to handle, as many dark and dangerous things await them in the forest.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Mixed Emotions

**Author's Note:**

> Some background info on this fic that you'll probably want to know:  
> It takes place after the Gravity Falls s2 episode "Not What He Seems". But, of course, it's AU because this is probably not what's going to happen in the next episode of the show =P
> 
> Regarding the hobbits: This fic takes place in a timeline that comes from one of several alternate endings for Dimension Break (The large fic that Field of Flower Crowns is a sample of), which results in the hobbits coming to live with Alex and Jordan, and pretending to be their European cousins, until they can get back to Middle Earth. 
> 
> I will eventually give more info on this ending and what happens after it (Which I've dubbed the "Cousins AU") once Dimension Break is done/close to being done.
> 
> The hobbits' ages are (an estimation of, as none of them were actually revealed) the ones used in the movie trilogy (Their ages in the books are different, for those who haven't read the books; in the books, Sam, Merry, and Pippin are all much younger than Frodo, but the Peter Jackson films adjusted the ages so that they were all closer to the same age (Which I liked)). 
> 
> Here, Frodo is 33/34 (19 in human years), Sam is 30/31 (17 IHY), Merry is 31/32 (Also 17 IHY), and Pippin is 24/25 (15 IHY). Frodo's age I figured out based off what's shown in the Fellowship of the Ring film, and the other three I figured out through tons of adding and subtracting until they felt right XD
> 
> As for their characterizations, I elected to blend my interpretations of them in both the books and Jackson movies.

Dipper backed away, confused and fearful. What had just happened? Had Mabel really done what he had just seen her do? No, she couldn't have. She would never do something like that. Surely she would have listened to her brother.

Yet there stood the mysterious stranger from the portal, which had been opened just seconds ago. Stan had claimed that this was his brother. But this stranger wasn't just Stan's brother; he was the author. Dipper had seen his palm rest atop the cover of the journal. He'd seen how the man's hand had lined up exactly with the one on the cover. This was the person he had been looking for all summer long. It had to be.

Dipper wanted to interrogate him, of course. He had millions of questions to ask. But at that moment, he only felt like running away from all of this. He needed some time alone, away from Stan, away from Soos, away from this stranger…and even away from his sister.

He quickly turned around and headed back upstairs. As he ran, he could hear his sister, Great Uncle, and Soos calling for him to come back. But he didn't listen to them. He just kept running, and didn't look back. He carefully navigated himself through the busted up gift shop, then headed outside. He took a brief moment to look over what had become of the shack after the large flux of anti-gravity that had occurred only moments ago, but only stopped for a moment before running out into the woods.

* * *

Alex received a phone call less than an hour later from a frantic and desperate Mabel. The teen sat on a stool near the bar in the kitchen and listened to the girl talk to her.

"Dipper's gone?" she asked, shortly after Mabel had explained what was going on. "Are you sure?"

Jordan came in to the kitchen to get his morning cup of coffee, followed by Frodo and Sam. The hobbits were still living with the twins, still under the guise of visiting cousins from Europe.

"Morning sis." He said to his twin as he grabbed three mugs from the cabinet.

"Are you sure?" Alex was still talking to Mabel on the phone. Her expression grew worried as she continued to listen to the girl's news. "Well, do you know where he went?"

Jordan put his mug on the counter and asked. "Sorry to interrupt, but…what's going on?"

Alex put her hand over the transmitter and looked to her brother and "cousins".

"Dipper's run off. Mabel and the rest of them can't find him anywhere." She told them.

"What made him run off?" Frodo asked, putting two teabags into his mug of hot water.

"I'm not sure…Mabel says that something happened last night that got him all shook up…I don't know what it was."

"Well, go ahead and find out. We won't interrupt you anymore." Jordan told her.

Alex went back to her conversation. "Sorry about that Mabel; what happened last night? What made Dipper so upset?"

She paused and listened as the girl explained the previous night's events as best as she could. Alex's eyes grew wide as she processed it all. Meanwhile, the other three were still working on their drinks. Sam put sugar into Frodo's tea, occasionally looking up at Alex as she listened to the girl on the other end of the phone.

"That…that sounds… _huge_." Alex managed to say, after Mabel had supposedly finished explaining. "Is everyone okay? Did anyone get hurt?"

She listened a little more, and then said, "Well, that's good. But yeah…I can see why Dipper would run off…he must be so confused and scared."

Jordan grabbed a muffin from a box on the counter, and then asked, "What happened?"

Alex put her hand over the transmitter again and said, "I'll explain in a sec."

Her brother nodded and let her continue with the phone call.

"Well, don't worry Mabel…I'll call Dipper's cell. If he doesn't answer…I'm coming up there to look for him. Okay? Ok. See you soon." She then hung up the phone.

"What?!" Jordan looked up suddenly after hearing what Alex had said about going up to Gravity Falls, choking a little on the muffin he had just begun eating. A look of total shock was on his face.

"There was some kind of accident or something at the shack. A  _big_  one. And Dipper ran off after it happened."

"Okay…but you're going up there to find him? Right now?" Jordan asked. " _Really_?"

"I have to! He's my friend, and I'm worried about him." Alex told her brother. "Dipper can get himself into a lot of trouble if he doesn't have someone keeping an eye on him. I have to make sure he's okay."

"I'll go with you." Frodo spoke up.

Sam looked at him, very surprised, and shook his head. "No Mr. Frodo; you shouldn't go. We may be going home soon; what if you miss the trip back?"

"Yeah," Jordan said. "It's better if you stay here.  _Both_  of you." He looked at his sister.

"But Jor, Dipper could be in trouble! He's probably feeling hurt, or scared…or at least confused. I need to help him."

Jordan folded his arms and rolled his eyes. "All right, here's the deal. Call Dipper. If he picks up, tell him to go home or at least go somewhere that he feels safe and comfortable. If he doesn't pick up after you call him like, three times,  _then_  you can go look for him. All right?"

"Ok. Can I bring help if I go?"

"I guess you can call Wirt and see if he wants to help; he and Dipper are close."

"I still wish to come and help you." Frodo said to Alex after taking a sip of his tea. "If you'll have me."

"But, Mr. Frodo!" Sam protested.

"We can postpone our trip home, if a way back does come up."

"Well, if you're going, then I'm coming with you."

Jordan spoke up again. "Sam, I know how important Frodo's safety is to you, but I need your help here; mainly with keeping Merry and Pippin in line. They'll listen to you, right?"

"Not always."

"Well… I still want your help anyway."

Frodo put a hand on Sam's shoulder. "It's all right Sam; stay here and help. I'll be fine."

Sam sighed. "Well…if you're sure Mr. Frodo…all right. I'll stay."

Alex, meanwhile, had been attempting to call Dipper. But as she had expected, she did not get any answer.

"He didn't pick up." Alex informed the others. "Better get ready to go." She began to dial Wirt's number as she headed out of the kitchen and back to her room to pack. Frodo followed her.

Jordan sighed. "I was hoping they wouldn't have to go."

Sam nodded, taking a bite his of own muffin.

The teen turned to the hobbit and said quietly, "I'm planning on going after them if they're not back in a few days. And I wanted you to come with me, if I have to go; that's the real reason why I asked you to stay."


	2. Preparations

As soon as Alex and Frodo had gone to get packed, Merry and Pippin arrived in the kitchen after just waking up.

"Good morning!" Pippin said with a stretch. "What's for breakfast?"

"We have blueberry and chocolate chip muffins, and tea or coffee." Jordan said. "Take your pick."

Merry saw that Sam was sitting at the kitchen bar, and then noticed that Frodo was not present. Naturally, he asked, "Where's Frodo?"

"He and Alex are getting packed. They're taking a trip."

"Where to?"

"Yes, where? And are we going with them?" Pippin asked, taking two muffins.

"I can't tell you where they're going. And no, you're not going with them." Jordan said bluntly. "You guys are staying here with me."

"And before you start complaining, Mr. Frodo wouldn't let me come with him neither; he wants me to stay here and look after the two of you." Sam interjected.

"What are they going off for? And why so suddenly?" asked Pippin.

"Something happened with one of Alex's friends last night, and she's going to make sure he's all right." Jordan explained, as he watched Pippin reach for a third muffin. "Frodo wanted to go with her; I don't know why. He has his own reasons, I guess."

"Do you know when they'll be back?" Merry asked as he made himself some tea.

"No idea. But they haven't left yet; like I told you, they're still packing to leave. You can still say goodbye."

"Oh. Well that's good."

In a matter of minutes, Alex and Frodo returned to the kitchen. Alex had her shoulderbag packed with some supplies, and Frodo's backpack was also packed up as well.

"Wirt's gonna be here in a little while." Alex told her brother. "Do you mind if we take some food with us?"

"Of course not; you're going to need it, after all." Jordan replied. "Take as much as you think you'll need. Mom asked me to go to the store today, so we'll restock."

"Ok. Thanks bro."

Alex and Frodo went to work packing up their food. Pippin trotted over to Frodo and looked over his shoulder as the older hobbit tucked an apple into his pack.

"How long will you be gone?" he asked.

"We don't know." Frodo told him. "But I suppose it will at least be a week."

"Yeah." Alex nodded. "Probably longer, knowing how stubborn Dipper can be."

"I'll go grab the travel first aid kit for you guys." Jordan offered. "Unless you've already got it?"

"No; I forgot." Alex said. "I'm glad you remembered."

"Ok; I'll be right back." He turned around for a brief moment, remembering something, and looked to Pippin, a soft scowl on his face. "No more muffins, got it?"

Pippin nodded, crumbs falling from his mouth. Jordan turned back around and headed off to the bathroom to grab the first aid kit. After he had left, there was a knock at the door, and Merry went to answer it. He came back seconds later.

"It's your friend Wirt and his little brother." He told Alex.

"Wirt's here!" Alex dropped the package of crackers she'd been holding and ran to greet the boy and welcome him inside, while Frodo stayed behind and continued packing. Alex found that Wirt was dressed in his pilgrim costume, much to her surprise. Greg followed him inside, holding his hand; the boy was also dressed in his little costume.

"Oh; you're in your costume. Cool. And…you brought Greg," Alex said with a small sigh as she led them back to the kitchen. "Did you have to?"

"My stepdad asked me to watch him for the week while he and my mom went out of town, and Sara was too busy with wrestling practice to take him; sorry."

"It's okay. I'm sure Jordan can keep an eye on him for you, 'til we get back. Did you bring anything with you?"

"Just some clothes; I figured you would pack the food and all that."

"You figured right. We're about ready to go…we're just waiting for Jordan to get the first aid kit. Until then…have a muffin." She grabbed the box and brought it over to him. He took a chocolate chip one. Alex then offered the last one in the box to Greg, who took it happily.

"Thanks. Uh…have you heard anything from Dipper? Anything at all?" Wirt's tone was now rather solemn.

"No. Nothing." She sighed.

"I hope he's all right; I knew I had to hurry over as soon as you told me that he was gone." Wirt said as he took a seat at the kitchen bar, next to Merry and Pippin. He pulled Greg up onto his lap. Then, he changed the subject at hand to something lighter. "They're still staying with you?" he asked, referring to the hobbits.

"Yup. We have no idea when they'll be able to go home. But things haven't been too bad; it's actually really fun having them around." Alex looked at the four hobbits for a moment and smiled.

"That's good. But…none of your relatives are suspicious of them? At all?"

"Nope. Except our Uncle Keith; he  _says_  that he knows the family trees of everyone, including all the brothers and sisters in law and all that; Jordan doesn't think so…but I think he might be serious. Anyway…he was kind of suspicious. But he didn't get to talk to these guys long enough to find out the truth about them."

"Ah. Well that's good."

"Oh, and I forgot to mention on the phone…Frodo wants to come with us and help look for Dipper. You don't mind, right?"

"Of course not."

Just then, Jordan returned with the first aid kid.

"Here it is; sorry I took a little while. I think Robbie got into it again. The Neosporin was missing."

"Did you find it?" Alex asked.

"Yeah; it was in a different drawer." He handed her the case, and caught sight of Wirt and Greg. "Oh, hey Wirt. Hi Greg."

They waved at him. "Hi!" Greg greeted him.

"Is Greg going with you guys?" Jordan asked the two teens.

"No, no…I had to bring him with me." Wirt explained. "My stepdad asked me to watch him this week while he and my mom went out of town, and Sara was too busy…so…"

"Ah, I see. I'll watch him for you." Jordan said.

"All right." Wirt sighed a little. "Can I borrow your phone? I want to let my stepdad know."

"Sure." Jordan slid the other teen his cell phone. "There you go." Then, the boy turned to his sister. "You owe me; leaving me with Merry, Pippin, and now Greg. I have to take them to the store with me later today. That's going to be a  _pain_." He whispered to her.

"Sorry…but hey, you do have Sam to help you handle them. That counts for something, right?" Alex smiled wryly. "And look at all that help you'll have for bringing the groceries in!"

"Yeah, yeah. You still owe me."

"Fine, fine…I owe you."

A few minutes later, the trio was ready to leave. Jordan handed Alex a road map, and said, "Be careful out there, okay? And call me when you find him; or at least when you get up there."

"All right. See you soon."

They said their goodbyes, and then headed out the door and got into Alex's car. Then, they drove away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here are Merry and Pippin! I hope I did these two justice; they don't appear much in this fic, but nonetheless I hope I did good with them. I really love the two of 'em, almost as much as Frodo and Sam. (I just have a weakness for those four hobbits in general XD)
> 
> Alex does own a car and knows how to drive, but she didn't learn until she was around 16. And the car is her Mom's old one; it's kinda small XP


	3. The Drive

The drive to Gravity Falls was going to be a long one; roughly two days drive. It would be even longer if traffic proved to be a mess. For the first few hours of the drive, things were quiet for the most part; Wirt did some catching up with Alex and Frodo, and they listened to some CDs that Alex had brought along. But other than that, and some visits to a few rest stops along the way, the drive northwest was uneventful. On the first night, Alex elected not to stop at motel; she thought that Dipper's disappearance was much too urgent for them to take long stops like that.

"Are you  _sure_  we can't stop at a motel?" Wirt asked one final time from his spot in the passenger seat as they drove past a sign for Morty's Motel. It read "Last motel for 100 miles!". It was growing darker and darker outside the car's windows.

"If we stop, we're giving Dipper more time to get himself lost." Alex told him. "And well…motels are…eh."

"'Eh'?" Wirt raised an eyebrow.

"What does that mean?" Frodo asked from the backseat.

"Don't ask." Alex said flatly. She changed the song that was playing on the radio, keeping her eyes on the road as she did so.

"But…what about when you get tired?" Wirt asked her. "I mean, we'll have to stop somewhere then, so you can get some sleep. You're the only one who can drive after all; I only have my permit. Are you planning on getting us into a car accident or something?"

"We'll cross that bridge if we come to it." Alex told him, giving him a small glare. "For now; just let me drive. You can sleep if you want to; I don't think Frodo'll mind if you recline your seat back a little."

"Not at all. Go ahead." Frodo piped up from the back.

Wirt sighed, and then adjusted his chair so that it now was lying back a little. Then, he lay down onto it and turned over onto his side. He shut his eyes for a moment, then opened them again and asked, "Do you mind changing the music? Alternative rock is hard to sleep to."

"Sure. There are some CDs over there beside you; pick whichever one you want." Alex told him.

The boy sat up and looked over the musical options for a moment, then finally picked out a CD and handed it to Alex before lying back down. The girl read the disc's title and track listing, and smiled over at Wirt. "Love songs, huh?"

Wirt mumbled something incoherent in reply and turned himself over again so that he was no longer facing her.

"Well…they'll help you get to sleep, that's for sure." Alex stuck the disc into the player, and in a few seconds, a much softer melody was playing.

After a few minutes, she checked the rearview mirror to take a look at Frodo, who was sitting beside the window and looking out it at the view.

"Try to get some sleep, okay?" she told him quietly.

He nodded in reply, but didn't turn from the window. Alex kept driving.

In few hours, she grew tired. After half an hour of scouting for one, she pulled into a rest stop. Then, she took out the CD of love songs, popped in a classic rock CD, and turned up the volume a little to see if it would awaken her passengers, who had both by this time fallen fast asleep. It worked.

"Are we there yet?" Wirt asked, sitting up. He frowned a little when he saw that they were only at a rest stop. "How far are we?"

"Halfway there, I think." Alex told him. "Is Frodo awake?"

"Yes, I'm up." The hobbit replied, rubbing his eyes as he sat up in the back seat. "Where are we?"

"A rest stop. We're halfway to Gravity Falls." Wirt told him.

"How much farther do we have to go?"

"Probably a day's drive." Alex mused. "It shouldn't be  _too_  long."

"Are we going to stop at a motel or something?" Wirt asked.

"I don't know." Alex yawned. "I think I might be able to manage driving for one more day, but…" she thought for a moment. "Maybe we should stop at one and crash there for a few hours."

Wirt sighed with relief. "That sounds like a good plan."

Alex nodded. "Ok; go ahead and take care of any business that you can here, and then we'll get back on the road, stop for some food, and then start looking for a decent motel. Sound good?"

The other two nodded.

"All right; let's get to it!"

The three of them hopped out of the car and went off to each do their own things. After taking a restroom break, Alex went ahead and got them some drinks for the road: for herself a hot cup of French vanilla coffee, tea for Frodo, and a soda for Wirt. Once the three of them were done, they got back into the car, and Alex handed out the drinks before they started off again. In a few more hours, they stopped at small diner and got something to eat. After that, they got back on the road until they found a motel. Then, they stopped there, got a room, and slept there until they were well rested.

When they next awoke, it was morning. They had a quick breakfast, and then got back on the road once more. Many hours and two rest stops later, they had finally made it to Gravity Falls. They drove through town until finally finding their way to the Mystery Shack. Alex parked the small car in front of the tourist trap, and the three of them got out of the car and took a look at the state of things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter three! The trio drive to Gravity Falls.
> 
> The travel time from where Alex and Jordan live to Gravity Falls was an estimation I made using some distance calculators online. I figured it would work.
> 
> Not much else to say about this chapter :P It's just the usual roadtrip thing.


	4. The Shack and the King of the Gnomes

The Mystery Shack, at least on the outside, was a complete wreck. The place looked to be almost in shambles. It was as though a storm had blown through and torn it up. It was in dire need of repairs.

"What happened last night?" Wirt asked Alex. "This place is a disaster zone."

"I don't know. All Mabel told me was that what happened was…well…huge." Alex replied.

"Here she comes now. We should ask her about everything that's happened." Frodo said, gesturing to the door of the shack. Mabel had just come out of it and was scrambling towards them. The girl looked frazzled. Her hair was a mess, and her sweater was torn.

"You're here!" she cried, running up to Alex and giving the girl a hug. "I didn't think you'd really come."

"Of course I came! I'm not just going to abandon you when you need me." Alex replied, hugging her back.

Mabel smiled a little, and let go of the older girl. She looked over at the others. "Wirt! Frodo! You guys are here too?"

"Yep." Wirt said, as both he and Frodo nodded.

"Frodo insisted that he come along." Alex explained. "And I asked Wirt to come with us."

"Well…I'm glad you guys came!" Mabel said. "I hope you can help us find Dipper."

"That's why we're here." Wirt told her. "Mabel, do you have any idea where he went?"

"I'm not really sure, but I think he ran off into the woods. That's usually where he goes when he's upset."

"Okay then; let's look there first." Alex said. "Come on, guys."

"Ok; just let me get ready, and then we can go." Mabel told them before turning to head back into the shack to get some supplies of her own.

"Wait Mabel." Alex grabbed the girl's hand before she could start off. She turned back around.

"What is it?"

"You should stay here. If Dipper ran away…he…might not want to see you right now, y'know? He might want some time alone."

"You think so?"

"Yeah…I do."

"But…I want to help find him! He's my brother, and I care about him!" The girl's eyes began brimming with tears. "I don't want to lose him!"

Alex pulled her in for another hug, and her two companions joined her. "I know, Mabel, I know. But if he's hurting, you have to give him some space." She explained. "Let us go look for him. When we find him, we'll ask him if he wants to go home yet. If he does, we'll bring him back. If he doesn't…will you give him some time alone, to think things out?"

Mabel thought for a moment, and then sighed. "Okay…but if he doesn't want to come home just yet…will you call me or something and let me know that he's okay? I'm so worried about him."

"Sure." Wirt nodded. "We'll make sure to let you know how he's doing."

Mabel smiled, wiping her eyes. "Thanks guys. Be careful, okay?"

"We will." Frodo said. He put a hand on Mabel's shoulder. "You can look after things here, right?"

"Sure can!" Mabel nodded. "See you soon!"

Mabel waved goodbye as she watched the three of them head into the forest.

* * *

 

The trio started off, and had soon spent a couple of hours walking through the woods, looking for any sign of Dipper. Eventually, they came across a clearing in the woods. There were several small patches of crystals growing in the clearing, as well as several mushrooms and toadstools. They sat down to rest for a moment in this odd clearing, but their rest was interrupted only moments later by something very peculiar.

Minutes after they had sat down, several little bearded men popped out from behind the trees and crystal patches and scurried towards them, taking the group by surprise. They were all dressed similar to Wirt.

"What are these?" Frodo asked, looking around at the little men uncertainly. They were a couple feet shorter than he.

"I think they're…gnomes; Dipper mentioned finding some in the woods once. They tried to marry Mabel, I think." Alex said.

"We sure did!" A brown haired gnome said, stepping forward. He was the only member of his group without a beard. "But her brother rescued her, and then she blew us off."

"Did you happen to see her brother out here in the woods?" Frodo asked, kneeling down and looking the gnome in the eye. "We're looking for him."

"Hmm…nope. Sorry. Can't help you." The gnome, Jeff, replied, obviously faking his memory loss. However, his tone changed when he caught sight of Wirt. He and the other gnomes quickly surrounded the boy and bowed down in front of him.

"Oh, great tall gnome king! How may we serve you?"

"What? 'Gnome king'? I'm not-" Wirt said, confused. "I'm the pilgrim." He added quietly.

"Wirt, they think you're their king! Ask them where Dipper went!" Alex told him. "They're sure to tell you."

Wirt sighed, then said, "Tell us which way Dipper went…uh…loyal subjects."

Jeff stood up, cleared his throat, and began. "The kid showed up here a few days ago. He sat here for a little while and sulked, then got up and ran off that way." He pointed in the opposite direction from where the trio had come.

"Did he tell you what was upsetting him? Or where he was going?" Frodo asked.

"Nope; we were watching him from our hiding spots. We don't really like that kid, to be honest."

"Well…thank you anyway, for telling us where he went." Alex told them.

"Anything for the gnome king!" The gnomes all bowed in front of Wirt once again.

"Uh…thank you?" Wirt said uncertainly.

The trio headed off in the direction the gnomes had pointed them in, one step closer to finding their friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The gnomes thinking Wirt is their king is inspired by the joke that GF/OtGW fans made back when OtGW first came out about Wirt being a gnome. There's some fanart out there of Wirt (with Dipper) meeting the gnomes from GF, and this is sort of my contribution to that :P


	5. At the Bank of the River

Several hours had passed since their encounter with the gnomes, and still it seemed like they were nowhere closer to finding Dipper. At the moment, they were sitting together beside a shallow river that ran through the middle of the forest, taking a short rest and having some lunch. Alex and Frodo sat resting with their feet in the cool, clear river, and Wirt sat beside them. However, he chose to keep his feet, and the rest of his person on dry land. The three of them were discussing Dipper, mostly, and were trying to figure out which direction he'd gone off in from this part of the forest, if he had even come there at all.

"What if he never came here?" Wirt asked. "This forest is huge, and he could have gone anywhere. Maybe he never found this river. We could be way off his trail, for all we know."

"Well…we went in the direction the gnomes sent us…" Alex said as she finished her small bag of chips. "And we ended up here. I think we're going the right way."

"But what if we aren't? Maybe he took a turn somewhere further back. We just don't know."

"Maybe he did. But like you said, we don't know for sure, so I guess we'll just keep going the way we're going, and hopefully we'll bump into him." Alex said with a stretch as she stood up. She walked over to her bag and went through it for a moment before pulling out the green cloak she had brought with her, and putting it on. Then, she walked back over to the riverbank.

"You don't seem to have a good, solid plan for finding him, do you?" Frodo asked, as she sat down beside him again.

"Not really." Alex laughed weakly. "I was hoping that maybe I could just call him, but he doesn't seem to want to answer his phone. So…we're just going to have to trust to luck, and hope we find him."

"Trust to luck? Then we're really in trouble." Wirt sighed, standing up. "We should have just let the Gravity Falls police department handle it, or something." He mumbled to himself. "It was stupid of us to just come out here on our own. We're just going to get lost."

"Wirt, have you  _met_  the two policemen of Gravity Falls? They're useless." Alex told him, overhearing some of his comment. "Well, really…they're just…not that good at their jobs, unless what they're doing is really important to them. And I don't think finding Dipper would be that important to them. They think he's kind of annoying…or at least, that's what he told me."

"Dipper thinks that everyone thinks he's annoying, to some degree. Even the people he trusts."

"Yeah…I know."

"Well…if we do get lost…" Frodo changed the subject. "Then what will we do? Keep wandering around until we find him, or come across someone who can help us find him? Or what?"

"I guess…I don't know." Alex sighed. "But I'm not going to give up on finding him so soon. We told Mabel that we'd find him; we can't let her down. And he's our friend…we can't just leave him."

"Yeah…he is." Wirt sighed. "Let's keep going, then."

Alex nodded. She and Frodo got up and went to grab their bags, and soon the three of them were off again.

A few more hours of long, tiresome walking later, they made a discovery. They stumbled upon a rather large cave. Just outside of it's entrance sat a bolder, with an oddly shaped hole in it. It looked like it had once held something, a piece of the rock, or perhaps a strange item. They looked the boulder over for only a moment, though, before they turned their attention back to the cave itself.

"Maybe Dipper went in here to rest." Frodo suggested.

"Maybe so. Let's check it out." Alex said, stepping forward.

"Wait…I think we should just keep going." Wirt suddenly said. "I don't like the look of this cave…it's really creeping me out."

"But what if Dipper really is here? We won't know for certain unless we look." Frodo told him. "Let's just look around in there for a moment."

"Yeah. And besides, it's getting dark, and there's been a lot of thunder…I think it might start-" Alex began. Suddenly, a downpour of rain began to descend from the sky. Alex and Frodo quickly pulled their hoods up over their heads.

"You were going to say it was going to start raining, right?" Wirt asked the girl, frowning.

"Yep." Alex looked to the ground.

"Right; that's how it usually works. Well…I guess we have no choice. We'll spend the night in here."

"And look for Dipper, right?"

"I guess. Come on." Wirt led them towards the cave and out of the storm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Initially I was going to have the three of them use a boat to cross the river, but I figured that wouldn't make much since. The river they're sitting by is actually really shallow.
> 
> If you're wondering about Alex's cloak, she bought it at a renaissance fair that she and Jordan went to when they were younger. Jordan doesn't like the thing and thinks it's impractical, but Alex likes it, so he doesn't really say anything :P


	6. The Cave

The trio walked quietly into the cave, and then sat down to dry off, and hopefully get some more rest. Frodo pulled his glowing phial from his pocket to bring them some much-needed light.

"I hope Dipper really is in here." Alex told the other two as she took off her cloak and laid it down beside her. "I really don't want to keep walking on and on like we have been. I'm tired of it."

"You and me both. Well…we'll see if he's in here soon enough." Wirt replied, sitting down across from her. "I guess we can start looking after we dry off a little. But if we don't find him here…what next?"

"I guess we'll just keep going then. Once the rain lets up, of course." She looked out of the cave at the rainstorm outside. Then, she turned to the hobbit beside her. "You okay?" she asked him.

"Yes; I'm fine." He replied with a nod.

"Ok; good. Let's eat, then we can go search for Dipper." Alex went to her bag and got some food out. She brought out an apple and half a cheese sandwich, and then her water bottle. The other two pulled out their own bottles of water, ready for their meal. Alex frowned at the meager supply of food that she had brought out.

"An apple and half a sandwich; this is all we have left." She sighed. "We should have packed more."

"Well…don't you have some candy?" Wirt asked her.

"Oh yeah. Of course." She pulled out a medium-sized bag of sour gummies. "I've been hiding these from Hiro for like a week now."

"Well, those candies won't last us very long." Frodo reminded them. "And they won't do much for our hunger."

"Yeah." Alex looked to the bag of candy, opening it. "But it's something, I guess. Maybe we'll be able to live off these until we can get more food."

"Until then, we should try to ration what we eat."

"Agreed; we need to save some food in case we find Dipper before we find more food."

The three of them each had one small handful of candy, Wirt took half of the cheese sandwich, and Alex and Frodo shared half of the apple. Then, they decided to search the cave for any sign of Dipper. They walked around for a bit, until Wirt stumbled upon a medium-sized brown backpack lying against the cave wall.

"Did either of you leave your bag over here?" he asked the other two.

"No…you found someone's things?" Frodo asked.

"Yeah; over here."

The other two ran over to him and took a look at the bag he had discovered. Alex kneeled down and opened it, and the other two got down beside her. Together, they looked over the bag's contents.

"Let's see…a puzzle cube…a broken pen that I  _think_  was chewed up…ew." Alex threw it aside. "Oh! Look at this!" She pulled out a portable-sized ultraviolet light. "Dipper's here in the cave, for sure. This is his bag; see, he's been carrying this thing around with him ever since he found out that it shows hidden messages in the journal."

"And doesn't he have that habit of chewing on pens when he thinks?" Wirt asked, picking up the pen that Alex had tossed aside only moments before, only to drop it in disgust moments later.

"Yeah. This is definitely his bag of stuff. Which means we're on the right track."

"Well…let's keep looking around here, then." Frodo said.

The three of them walked further into the dark recesses of the cave, quietly calling out Dipper's name as they went along. They did this for several minutes, until suddenly Frodo stopped them.

"What is it?" Alex asked, slightly worried.

"I hear a voice. Just up ahead."

"Is it Dipper's? Can you tell?" Wirt asked.

"I don't know."

"Well…let's go find out." Alex said.

The three of them walked on, as quietly as they could. Hopefully they would find their friend in the room ahead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the books, Tolkien notes that Frodo's senses were sharpened somewhat thanks to his use/possession of the ring. Thus, he's able to hear things that the other two might not be able to.
> 
> Not much else to say about this chapter, except that what comes next is pretty big and intense. Enjoy the calm before the storm, as Bill Cipher says.


	7. Moonstone

They found themselves in a large, round chamber, dimly lit with candles all around. In the center, on a small round pedestal, sat Dipper, who was staring at the ground motionlessly. He held a large, round white stone, the size of his hand, which sparkled in the candlelight. The trio slowly and carefully stepped towards the boy, when suddenly they heard a voice say his name in a silky tone. They quickly backed up and hid behind a slab of rock that sat nearby, peering over it so they could see what was happening.

"Dipper," the voice said again. It sounded feminine. "Thank you for freeing my stone for me."

The boy did not respond; he simply continued staring at the ground.

"Something's wrong with him." Wirt muttered under his breath.

"What's that stone all about?" Alex whispered. "I've never seen it before."

"Whatever it is, it apparently belongs to her." Frodo pointed to a figure that stood a few feet away from Dipper. Alex and Wirt turned their attention to her. "She must be the one that I heard."

The figure stood over Dipper, looking down at him with a smile on her face. She had long, silvery white hair, pale skin, blue eyes, and she wore a long shimmering white dress and a translucent silk-like pale blue shawl. She had a fine silver circlet of flowers in her hair. But, there was also a certain opaqueness about her; she was a like a cloud, or a mist on the wind. Frodo was reminded vaguely of the elf enchantress Galadriel as he looked over the stranger.

"Who is she?" Alex asked, slightly in awe of the mysterious woman.

"I don't know." Wirt replied, also in awe of her.

The three of them continued to watch her as she walked in a circle around their friend, before continuing her little spiel.

"If you hadn't found my stone, I don't what would have happened to me. You saved me." She put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "And you're still saving me now, by holding onto it for me."

"How is that helping her?" Wirt wondered quietly.

"Shh; you might find out if you listen." Alex hushed him.

"Your spirit is helping the stone keep it's power…although it's taking energy from you in the process." The woman continued; she still hadn't noticed the three of them watching her.

The trio gasped quietly when they heard her say this.

"However, that is a small price to pay for helping me, is it not?"

They saw Dipper's head nod just a little in response.

"We have to help him." Alex said, standing up. Frodo pulled her back down.

"We don't know how to deal with her; she might be more powerful than we think." He warned.

"Yeah." Wirt nodded. "And besides, she has some kind of weird connection to Dipper; her magic stone is stealing his soul to keep her alive, or something. If we hurt her, it might hurt him."

"But if we just let them sit there, she'll take him from us. We have to save him; that's what we came to do. So, let's do it!" Alex said, standing up.

She pulled her sword from its sheath and ran into the center of the room, stopping the woman before she could keep talking. Wirt and Frodo followed, somewhat reluctantly, Wirt holding a torch that he had snagged off the wall, and Frodo going for Sting. Dipper looked up at them with empty eyes; Alex looked at him for a moment and put a hand to her mouth, letting out a small choked cry.

The woman turned to them, frowning. "Who are you?" she asked coldly, her voice still silky smooth.

"We're Dipper's friends." Alex said, after clearing her throat, not bothering to give the woman their names. "Who are  _you_ , and why do you have him?"

The woman laughed lightly, then bowed and introduced herself. "I am Moonstone." She told them. "Your friend stumbled across this gem, which I am bound to, and brought it into this cave. Once he arrived here, I appeared before him."

"So…wait. You're a gem? Like Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl?" Wirt asked.

"I am not a gem; I am the  _keeper_  of this gem."

"Ok…but, what are you holding onto Dipper for? Why do you need him?"

"He's helping me regain my power. While the moonlight is hidden behind the stormclouds, I am weak. I need his energy in order to survive, while the moon is out of sight."

"Well…he's our friend, and we came to find him and bring him back with us." Alex spoke up again. "Will you let him go?"

"I'm afraid I cannot; I need him."

"When can you give him back?"

"Once I have siphoned all the power that I can from him, he will be of no more use to me. Then you may have him back."

"You mean…once he's dead?" Wirt asked shakily.

"I suppose so."

"Let him go! Immediately!" Alex demanded, raising her voice and going into a battle stance. "Don't take another piece of his energy, or I'll end you."

"Your sword is of no use; I am a spirit."

Alex lowered her sword. Wirt turned to her and whispered, "If we can't hurt her, then she can't hurt us. We can just grab Dipper and go."

"I guess that'll work; I'll try to distract her. You two can grab Dipper and her stone, okay?"

"Okay."

Wirt relayed the plan to Frodo, and in a flash they were both at Dipper's side. Alex had not even been able to begin her distraction when suddenly, a flood of water rushed in from a large hole in the ceiling above them and began to flood the chamber. Moonstone herself vanished into thin air, leaving them alone, or so they supposed.

Alex scrambled over towards Dipper and the others, but was thrust backwards by a sudden wave of water. She quickly pulled her hood over her head for protection, although it would not do her much good. The wave carried her out of the room and back down the cave passage, and once it had stopped and let her down, she got back up and headed back into the chamber.

Wirt, meanwhile, was attempting to pull the stone from Dipper's hand. But, the boy was now suddenly full of energy, and he became violent, standing up from his seat on the pedestal and shoving the teen away. He pulled the stone closer to himself, backing away from the older boy. His eyes grew wide, and he shook with fear and rage.

"Something's wrong with him!" Wirt called across the chamber, hoping Alex would hear him.

"What is it?" the girl called back.

"The stone…I think it's messing with his head."

"Hold on; I'm coming."

"Hurry and get it away from him! If he keeps it for too long, he'll only get worse." Frodo said, grabbing Dipper's free hand as gently as he could.

Wirt went for the stone again, and managed to get a tight hold on it. Dipper fought back, scratching and kicking at the older boy, wriggling and yelling at him to try and get him to let go of the precious stone.

"Don't touch it; it's mine!" he cried, swatting at Wirt's hand to try and keep him away.

"Please, don't fight; we're trying to help you!" Frodo told the boy in a gentle voice, still holding his hand. He hoped that he would be able to calm the boy down and help him regain his senses.

Dipper looked at him fearfully, but only for a moment before his attention went back to the stone and the person trying to wrench it away from him. Wirt still kept his hold on the stone, but it loosened as the seconds passed. Another flood of water gushed in, this time from the cave entrance, and the boys were pushed apart. Wirt was sent across the room. Dipper managed to stay where he was, and Frodo was able to keep beside him. Once the water had subsided, Dipper stood up…only to faint seconds later. Frodo barely managed to catch him, and he struggled as he tried to keep the boy from falling to the floor.

"I've got him!" the hobbit shouted, to let the others know.

"Okay; get him out of here!" Alex ordered.

Frodo nodded, and he slowly began to carry Dipper to the other side of the room. He headed up a flat ramp of stone towards a small alcove above where they would be safe from the all of the water.

Alex, meanwhile, began to look around for the stone, which she assumed had fallen from Dipper's hand and into the floodwaters below. She sloshed around, looking for any sign of the luminous rock, but she found none. She turned and called up to the hobbit.

"Does Dipper still have the stone?"

Frodo checked Dipper's hands and pockets, but found no trace of it. "No; he doesn't have it."

"I can't find it anywhere around here…wait; where's Wirt?"

Wirt suddenly thrust his head up out of the water, taking in a deep breath of fresh air as he did. He had a handful of his cloak in his hand.

"Wirt! Did you see any sign of the moonstone?"

"I've got it right here." He nodded to the bundle of cloak in his hand.

"Good; let's go."

They headed over towards the stone ramp so they could regroup with Frodo and Dipper, when suddenly another flash flood struck the two of them from out of nowhere, knocking them breathless and pushing them backwards yet again. Moonstone's voice rang out clearly above them.

"Return my stone!"

Meanwhile, Frodo was still looking after Dipper, who had shown no signs of waking yet. The hobbit took the boy in his arms gingerly, nervous for his safety, and held his hand as he said quietly to him, "Do not die; do not leave me. Please."

Dipper let out a small groan, and Frodo sighed in relief. "You're all right; thank goodness."

Alex and Wirt continued their trip to meet up their two companions, but were stopped short when a wall of ice cold water suddenly burst through the cracked wall, blocking their path.

"Return the stone!" Moonstone's voice said again. "And I will let you pass."

Alex turned to Wirt, who still had the stone wrapped in his cloak. "What do we do?" she asked him.

"I guess we return her stone to her." The boy replied with a shrug. He slowly started to unwrap the precious rock, but then stopped short. "Wait…" he looked up, speaking to Moonstone now, even though she was not physically present. "If I touch your stone…the same thing will happen to me that happened to Dipper…won't it?"

"So? Return it to me!"

"No way. I don't want you sucking out my soul er…whatever."

"Return it to me!  _ **Now**_!"

Wirt shook his head, and let the gem fall from its safe haven inside of his cloak onto the ground. The fragile stone broke into four chunks upon impacting with the cave floor. Moonstone let out a loud shriek, but then her voice went silent. The water that had been in their way fell into puddles at their feet and seeped into cracks on the ground.

"Moonstone? You still there?" Alex called out, but got no reply. She turned to Wirt and the others. "I guess she's gone."

Wirt kneeled down and swept up the four fragments of stone into his hand, then stood back up. "Doesn't look like she or the stone have any more power, now that it's broken."

"Okay. Here; I'll put the pieces away." Alex said, carefully lifting the pieces of stone from his hand and placing them in a small velvet bag. She tucked them away inside her shoulderbag.

Then, the girl's attention went to Dipper, who was still lying unconscious in Frodo's arms. She ran over and knelt down beside the two of them. Wirt ran off to retrieve his hat, which had been swept off of his head during the flooding, and joined them moments later.

"Is he all right?" Alex asked the hobbit. "Or did Moonstone…kill him?"

"He's fine; but I don't know if he'll recognize us when he wakes up. She may have done something to his memories." Frodo replied.

"Well…let's get him out of here." Wirt said, lifting the boy up out of the hobbit's arms and carrying him (As well as he could) towards the mouth of the cave. Alex helped Frodo up, and soon the group was back at what had previously been their small campsite near the cave's entrance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Moonstone was originally going to be a Gemsona (Steven Universe OC) type of character, and much later in the fic the four characters would have brought her stone to Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl (And Steven!) to have them examine it. But I ended up dropping that idea later on, and decided to just make her the stone's guardian. The stone will come back in to play later on in the fic, though.
> 
> The stone broke so easily because, according to my research, moonstone (The actual stone) is very fragile and breaks easily if it's dropped.
> 
> It wasn't very explored in the books or movies, but I've always thought Frodo would be good at calming others down when they're nervous, angry, tense, etc. My brother told me that he thinks Frodo's (Or rather, Elijah Wood's) eyes are very calming, so that's part of where this headcanon came from :P


	8. Through the Wood

Wirt laid Dipper down on the damp ground beside what was once their small camp. Alex and Frodo looked over their supplies, which had been almost completely ruined thanks to Moonstone's flash floods.

"Well great." Alex huffed. "What little food we had left is gone."

"Is there anything salvageable?" Wirt asked.

"The food is ruined, but our other supplies aren't damaged." Frodo replied, going down on his knees as he went through his backpack.

"That's good, but we still need food to eat." Alex said with a sigh, sitting down on the damp ground.

"Yeah; especially Dipper, after what happened." Wirt added. "He looks terrible."

"Oh! Here." Alex uncapped the bottle that was on the chain around her neck. "Give him this; it should help."

Wirt poured the bottle's liquid into the boy's mouth, and in seconds, Dipper sat up, sputtering. He was frazzled. Wirt quickly handed the bottle back to Alex, who capped it again, reattaching it to the chain.

"What…w-what happened? Where am I?" Dipper asked, looking around. He caught sight of his companions, and grew even more bewildered. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We came looking for you." Alex replied. "Mabel called me and told me that you ran away…so we came to help you."

"Wait…Mabel sent you?" Dipper frowned. "Why would  _she_  be worried about me?"

"She's your sister, duh. Why else?"

"Yeah, but after what she did…" he trailed off. "Did Mabel tell you what happened?"

"Most of it."

"Did she tell you about how she betrayed me?"

"Betrayed you? What…?" Alex was confused. "All she told me was that you ran off once it was all over with."

"Yeah. She went and let Grunkle Stan use his portal instead of listening to me." He folded his arms and looked away. "I told her not to. I  _told_  her. But she didn't listen." His eyes welled up with tears. "She doesn't care what I say; she just does what she wants. She never listens to me."

Alex pulled the boy into a tight hug. "Dipper, listen to me: Mabel would  _never_  hurt you on purpose. You know that. She loves you."

"Yeah, that's what I thought too. Before all of that happened, anyway."

"She still loves you, Dipper. Do you know how worried she was when she called? She was in  _tears_." Alex told him. "She misses you. She wants you to come back home."

"Is that why you came? To take me back home?" he frowned again, looking at her.

"No; we came to make sure that you were doing okay, and so we could take you somewhere you'll feel safe." Wirt said. "We're not going to force you to go back there yet, if you don't want to."

"Really?"

The three of them nodded.

Dipper smiled a little. "Well…okay." He wiped some of his tears away.

The three of them came together in a group hug for a few minutes, and then they broke apart.

"Have you guys got anything to eat?" Dipper asked. "I'm starving; I haven't eaten since yesterday. Or maybe even longer than that…I'm not sure."

"Sorry, but…what little food we had was ruined by this flood that came through here earlier." Alex said sadly. "We have to find more."

"Oh. Well…that's okay. We'll get it soon enough, I'm sure."

Once Dipper felt a bit better, the group got to work packing up what was left of their supplies. As they worked, Dipper was interrogated.

"So…how'd you get all the way out here anyway?" Wirt asked him. "You ran off like…two or three days ago? How'd you get this far out into the woods?"

"And what was all that stuff with Moonstone about anyway?" Alex added.

"Well…I just…ran. I was really upset with Mabel…" Dipper trailed off. His anger for his sister had not fully left, even after what Alex had said to him. "And well…I just ran."

"And you ended up out here?"

"Yeah."

"What about Moonstone?" Frodo asked. "How did you come across her?"

"Huh? Moonstone?" Dipper was slightly confused. "Oh wait…you mean the rock I found?"

"Yeah…uh…that." Wirt nodded. "How'd you find it?"

"It was set into a boulder, just outside this cave. I managed to get it out, after pulling at it for a while, and I took it with me. But then a little while after that…" he stopped. "Well…my mind's blank after that."

"So, you found her stone…and I guess she made you sleepwalk or something and led you to her room here in the cave." Alex mused.

"She? What?"

"Nothing…it was just…well…the rock you found was guarded by a ghost with water powers, that's all." Wirt said.

"A ghost? I  _knew_  there was something supernatural about that rock!"

"Well, the ghost is gone now." Frodo told him. "And you're safe. That's what matters."

"Yeah." Alex nodded. "But there's still one problem: the food. We need to get something to eat soon, or we'll starve."

"Maybe we can get some food from campers out in the woods. If there are any." Dipper suggested, zipping up his jacket.

"Well maybe. But…I know somewhere we can go. But I know that you two probably don't want to go back there." Alex said as she looked to Wirt and then Dipper.

"Where is it?" Dipper asked.

"I think you know."

"You don't mean…" Wirt looked at her, nervous. "You're not serious. You want us to go back to… _there_?"

"We don't have many options." Alex glanced down for a moment. "We could wander around looking for campers, but we might not find any. It's a better plan just to go there instead. At least we know that we'll be able to get food."

"Where?" Frodo asked. "Where are we going?"

Alex took a deep breath. "We're going to a town…no, it's more like a kingdom, really…that's not too far away from here." She told him.

"Why are they afraid of it?"

"Well…it's a long story. A  _really_  long story. We'll explain later."

"All right then."

"Well…if we're  _really_  going back there…" Wirt crossed his arms and looked to the ground. "We should get going."

"Yeah," Alex sighed. "Let's go."

After they had finished packing up, they headed out of the cave. Rain was still pouring down from the sky, so they covered their heads with their hoods (Wirt kept his hat on) and walked into the forest again. Alex led the way, although she was only vaguely sure of where she was leading them. It had been a long while since they had first stumbled upon that kingdom, and after what had happened there, they had not planned on returning. But now they were desperate and needed food; they had to go back. Even if it meant putting themselves in danger.

"Wait," Wirt said suddenly, coming to a halt. They had been walking for a good half hour by this time. "Aren't we in the woods of Gravity Falls? How are we supposed to get to that kingdom from here?"

"Well…we just need to find out how Dipper got there, back when we first ran into each other out near the castle town and discovered the place." Alex replied. She then turned to the youngest member of their group.

"How  _did_  you get out there, Dips?" she asked him.

Dipper frowned a little at the nickname, and then said, "Well…there was a door on the side of a tree. Mabel and I went into it before we got split up."

"A door in a tree? Are you sure?" Wirt asked.

"Yeah. A door in a tree."

"Where was the tree?" Frodo asked.

"I can't really remember; Mabel was the one who found it…but it's not hard to miss. I mean, you don't see many trees with doors out in the forest."

"Well…okay then. We're looking for a tree with a door." Alex turned back around and they continued onward.

Eventually, after a half hour of searching, Frodo stumbled upon the door, and called his companions over to it. They ran to his side and gathered around the tree.

"Is this it?" Wirt asked Dipper.

"It's the only tree with a door that we've seen so far." Alex smirked at him. "I think this is it."

"I just wanted to be sure; there might be others out here."

"Well…let's open it." Frodo said, reaching out and turning the handle. He opened the door slowly, and the foursome peered inside. The area behind the door was pitch black. The hobbit pulled his glowing phial from his pocket and went to light up the interior.

"Please tell me that we don't have to jump in there and fall straight down." Alex said quietly. "I'm not in the mood for falling."

"Same here. And besides, that would make it really hard to get back here once we're done in there." Wirt added.

"There's no drop; it's a passage." Frodo told them, once he had gotten a good look at the inside. "A narrow one, by the look of it."

"Phew." Alex sighed in relief. "Well…let's go."

The group stepped inside, one by one, with Frodo in the lead. Wirt was the last one in; once he had stepped inside, he went to close the door, but then stopped short when he saw that there was no knob on the backside of the door. He decided to leave it alone.

"Close the door, Wirt." Alex told him, when she noticed that it was still ajar.

"I can't; there's no way to open it from this side." He told her.

"Okay then; push it back, but leave it open a little bit. That way we can still get out."

Wirt carefully pushed the door back, but left it open just a smidge. Then, he followed the others as they went down the passage in a single file line. As they walked, Alex, Dipper, and Frodo took their hoods off.

"How long is this passage?" Alex asked. "Can you tell?"

"No, I can't; it just goes on and on." Frodo replied.

"Dipper, do you remember how long it is? What did the way out look like?"

"It's pretty long, but the exit is through another door at the end." Dipper said.

"Ok."

After walking for a little while longer, they came to the end of the passage. There, they found the other door, and after a bit of pushing and shoving, got it open. They found themselves in a forest identical to the one they had come from. But, this forest was different. It wasn't raining there, and there were ornate lanterns hanging from the trees, illuminating the pathway that lay ahead of them. Crickets chirped softly. The place seemed almost peaceful. Frodo tucked his phial away, seeing no more use for it at the moment.

The group stood there for a few moments in silence, getting used to their surroundings.

"It…wasn't like this last time." Dipper finally said, looking around. "There weren't any lanterns. It was just a dark, creepy forest as far as the eye could see."

"Hmm…maybe this is one of those places that changes every time you come back to it." Alex mused.

"Well…which way is the kingdom?" Frodo asked, changing the subject. "We must continue on our way."

"You're right." Dipper said with a nod. "Uh…I guess we follow the path? Maybe that'll take us there."

"It's better than just walking around in the woods." Wirt agreed.

So, they followed the path of lanterns through the forest. On and on they went, until they found themselves in front of a signpost with three signs pointing in various directions. The three members of the party that had visited the realm before instantly recognized the name written on the topmost sign.

"That way; we go that way." Alex said firmly, pointing at the sign, which read "Wiral: 10 miles", and pointed east. They started off that way.

"Wiral? That's the name of this kingdom?" Frodo inquired as they walked.

"Yep, that's the one." Wirt nodded. "I'll never forget that name, as well as the name of the prince that rules the place."

"What's this prince like?"

"Evil."

"Evil? Then how is he still in power? Surely there's someone who is against him? Who plans to overthrow him?"

"If there is, then they're really quiet about it."

"Maybe he has been overthrown." Alex suggested. "Or…maybe he got arrested, or he left…or even died! Anything could have happened; we haven't been here in  _months_."

"Maybe. But I bet he's still there. Plotting his revenge and waiting for us to come back, probably." Wirt frowned.

"Well, we'll find out when we get there."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The kingdom name, Wiral, seems really weird to me, but it was something that just sort of...came to mind while I was brainstorming names for this kingdom (Back when I had first started Wanderers). And it worked, so I kept it.
> 
> Wirt, Dipper, and Alex's experiences in the kingdom are all covered in more detail during Wanderers, so I can't reveal too much without spoiling that story. However, if you're curious about anything, you can always ask.
> 
> Alex's bottle necklace is something she gets at the end of SotDW VI, so that will be covered eventually. The bottle itself has the ability to give her any type of liquid she wants or needs...but it takes three days (sometimes more) to refill itself and it only holds one dose of liquid at a time.


	9. Return to Wiral

Several hours later, they had finally arrived at the kingdom. After safely entering, they walked over to the large fountain in the center of town, and sat down together beside it to form their plan.

"Before we start, what time is it?" Dipper asked. "My watch isn't working anymore."

"According to the clock tower…" Alex looked up at the tall structure that loomed above them. "It's six o'clock. At night, obviously."

"Ok. Thanks."

"So…what's our plan?" Wirt asked. "I don't want to stay here that long."

"Me either." Dipper added.

"I know; I don't want to stay here either." Alex looked to Frodo. "And you wouldn't want to as well; trust me. This place may look pretty, but it's actually bad news."

Frodo nodded. "If you say so."

"Anyway…my idea was that we shop around for a bit, get some supplies, and then leave."

"That sounds easy enough, but we don't have any gold, and we need it to buy things here. Remember last time?" Wirt reminded her.

"Yeah, I remember." Alex sighed, thinking back. "But I completely forgot that we're broke. What can we do?"

"We could get all get some small jobs or something, and make some gold." Dipper suggested.

"We don't have time for that." Wirt said, shaking his head. "We need to find some other way to get gold. A faster way."

"Then maybe we could…well… _steal_." Dipper continued. Wirt's face suddenly grew wide with shock and utter disbelief at what he was saying. The younger boy continued. "I mean, it would be quick, after all, and-"

"Wait; we still have those moonstone pieces, right?" Frodo suddenly asked, cutting him off.

"Yeah." Alex patted her bag, where the she was keeping the stone chunks. "Why?"

"We could sell them. I'm sure someone would be willing to buy them from us."

"I guess we could do that. It's not like we were planning on doing anything with them anyway." Alex shrugged.

"Let's go see if we can find a buyer, then." Wirt said, standing up and brushing his cloak off. The rest of them followed suit.

They decided to split up into two pairs, Alex and Frodo as one and Dipper and Wirt as the other. Then, after agreeing to meet back at the fountain in an hour, the duos went off to hopefully find someone who would purchase the stones from them.

For Wirt and Dipper, it wasn't exactly easy to find anyone who would agree to buy, especially since they didn't have the stones on hand to show them off to any interested parties. Alex and Frodo, however, had it easy: They would simply stop in at every collectible and jewelry shop, walk up to the counter, and show the stones to the owner.

However, while there was certainly an interest in the stones, they could never agree on a solid price. Most of the offers weren't enough to get enough money for food for the four of them, and several of the buyers only wanted to purchase one piece of the stone, instead of all four. They were turned down at every place they visited.

Eventually, the girl and the hobbit found themselves at the last jewelry store in town.

"Here's hoping the person in this shop wants to buy some moonstone…or at least  _knows_  someone who wants to buy some." Alex said as she opened the door for her companion, and then followed him inside.

They walked up to the counter and placed the stones upon it, just as they had at the last few places they'd visited. The jeweler came up to the counter to inspect them. He raised his eyebrows in slight surprise at the odd-looking pair. Then, his eyes went to the chain around Frodo's neck, and the ring at the end of it, which, unbeknownst to the hobbit, had slipped out from under his shirt. Frodo noticed this immediately, and quickly stuck the ring back under his shirt, nervously breaking eye contact with the man.

"Good evening." The jeweler greeted them, once the moment had passed. "What do we have here?" he asked, looking at the four luminous stones.

"Um…we're here to sell you these stones, if you're interested." Alex told him.

"What kind of stones are they?"

"Moonstone." Frodo said. "We found them in a cave, outside of the kingdom."

The man carefully lifted up each stone one at time, to examine them. As he did, he asked, "These appear to be pieces of one stone. Was this stone broken when you found it?"

They nodded, electing to lie about the stone's condition in the hopes that it might bring them a little more gold.

"Well…while a solid moonstone that's the size that this one was would have been  _very_  valuable…the stone itself is still very rare."

"How much can we get for it?" Alex asked.

"At least five hundred pieces of gold, for all four of these fragments."

"Would you like to purchase them?" Frodo asked.

"Yes, I would." The jeweler nodded. He went to a chest that sat on the counter behind him, unlocked it with a key that he pulled from out of nowhere, and meticulously counted out five hundred pieces of gold. Once he had finished, he poured the coins into a bag and placed it on the counter in front of them.

"There you are. Five hundred pieces of gold." He said to them.

Alex grabbed the bag from the counter, and suddenly faltered a little from its weight. Frodo quickly grabbed hold of it to try and help her out. He looked back at the jeweler and said, "Thank you, sir."

"Yeah; thanks!" Alex added with a nod.

"You're welcome; have a nice evening." The jeweler replied with a small nod and a smile.

The two of them carefully made their way out of the shop, both of them holding on to the bag of gold together make sure it wouldn't fall and spill out all over the ground. They wound their way through town until they were back at the fountain, where Wirt and Dipper already waited for them. Both boys were in awe when they saw the large bag of money that the other two had with them.

"Looks like you sold the stones, huh?" Wirt asked.

"Yup." Alex smiled brightly.

"How much did you get?" Dipper asked.

"Five hundred gold." Frodo told him, a small but proud smile on his face.

"Woah!" The boy replied in awe.

"Impressive!" Wirt added. "Well…let's go get those supplies so that we can hurry up and get out of here."

The group then got to work, splitting the money in half and putting it into two separate bags: Alex's shoulderbag, and the bag the gold had come in. Once that was done, they chose to split up yet again so that they could go and purchase the necessary supplies. Once they were finished, they would meet up at the fountain again. Alex and Frodo chose to head for a fruit cart, and Wirt and Dipper decided to go for a different food cart nearby. Dipper went ahead without Wirt, taking their bag of gold with him, but before the others could break apart and start off on their way, the town crier suddenly appeared in the center of town with a large scroll. They stopped where they stood and listened to him.

"An announcement from the prince: word has just reached the castle that someone in town is selling rare jewels from the royal treasury. All ways out of the kingdom are now doubly guarded, and anyone and everyone leaving the kingdom, as well as all of the shopkeepers, will be interrogated until the perpetrator is caught. That is all." He announced, before bowing and heading back towards the castle.

"Selling jewels from the royal treasury? Who could that be?" asked Wirt.

"I don't know…but if they're interrogating people…we could be in trouble, since we  _were_  selling some jewels in town a little while ago." Alex said nervously.

"Then what do we do?"

"We still need supplies, but it's too risky to stay here for too long. We'll be caught." Frodo said.

"I have an idea: Wirt, you take Dipper, and the two of you go ahead and leave town. Hopefully you can make it out all right; you two didn't actually have the jewels with you." Alex started.

"But what about you two?" Wirt asked. "What will you do?"

"We'll get the supplies, and find a different way out of town."

"Why can't we just stay with you?"

"It's less risky this way; we won't end up caught together…if we're caught at all."

"Are you sure we should do this?"

"Trust me, Wirt; it'll be fine."

"Okay then, if you're sure…how long will you be?"

"We don't know. But once you're out of the kingdom, wait for us, all right? We shouldn't be too long." Frodo said.

"Ok." Wirt nodded, before running over towards the cart where Dipper was browsing. He went to the boy's side.

"We have to go, now." He grabbed the boy's hand.

"What do you mean? Aren't we getting supplies?" Dipper asked, very confused.

"There's been a change in plans; we have to leave the kingdom. Now."

"What happened?"

"I'll tell you later. Come on."

Wirt pulled the boy along and they headed for the kingdom's exit.


	10. Flee

The boys, although still rather reluctant to leave their friends behind, joined the queue of people that were waiting to leave the kingdom. Dipper drew his jacket’s hood over his head (and hat), per Wirt’s suggestion, as they walked along with the line. They stopped when the line came to a sudden halt.

“Do you think they’ll recognize us?” Dipper whispered to the older boy, as he looked to the guards standing at the gate.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m _sure_ they’ll recognize me.” Wirt replied with a small shudder. “But…keep your hood up anyway, just in case.”

“Ok. Where did Alex say she and Frodo were going?”

“Alex told me that they’d find another road out of town and meet up with us after getting some supplies.”

“Oh. Will they take long?”

“I don’t know.”

The line moved slowly, but did not stretch very far. They were right in the middle of it just then, and waited as patiently as they could, every so often looking for a sign of their friends. Eventually, they had made it to the front of the line. Because Wirt was too afraid to speak to them, Dipper walked up to the guards that stood in front of the gate and began answering their questions. Wirt stood quietly beside him; he looked at the guard that the younger boy was conversing with and shuddered.

Suddenly, one of them spoke up.

“That one, there.” The guard pointed to Wirt. “He’s on one of the wanted posters that Prince Zephyr gave to us.”

“What? Me? No, no; you must be confused.” Wirt shook his head. “This is my first visit to this fine…er… _grand_ kingdom.”

“Are you sure of that?” the guard approached him, a set of silver shackles in hand. Wirt backed up, ready to sprint away. But before he could, Dipper stepped between the two of them in an attempt to intervene.

“I think you’re mistaken, mister.” he told the guard. “My friend and I have never been here before now. It’s just a really weird coincidence that he looks like the guy on your poster.”

“Well,” the guard began again; Wirt drew a sharp breath. “Even if what you say is true, I’m still required to take him in for additional questioning. Prince’s orders.” He clapped the chains onto Wirt’s wrists, and the boy cried out softly; he shook with nervousness, rattling the chains.

“N-no; w-wait!” he protested, as a different guard led him away. Dipper followed after them, but was abruptly stopped by the guard they had been dealing with initially.

“I’m sorry, he must go in alone.” The guard explained. “If he’s innocent, he’ll be brought back. Until then, you can wait here.”

Dipper sighed, and as he stuck his hands in his pockets, said, “Uh, well…I stole an apple from that cart back there.” He gestured to the fruit vender who had been serving the people that were waiting in line.

In seconds, his wrists were also shackled, and he was then shuffled along towards the palace. He and his guard caught up with Wirt and his escort. Wirt looked at him with surprise when he saw what the boy had done.

“Why would you do that? You remember what Prince Zephyr is like; what he did to me last time.” Wirt hissed. “Now we’re going straight to him; he’s going to have us killed, for sure.”

“I know. But I didn’t want to leave you behind.” Dipper replied. “I knew that if you went in, you weren’t coming back out. So I figured I’d better follow you.”

“What about Alex and Frodo? You’re just going to ditch them?”

“Maybe they’ll see us on our way to the palace.” Dipper suggested. “If not…they’ll come looking for us.”

“If Zephyr doesn’t have them arrested too.”

They were silenced by the two guards, and were pushed and shoved onward towards the palace, Wirt fearing what lay ahead, and Dipper hoping that their friends would find them.

* * *

 

Meanwhile, Alex and Frodo were still in town, finishing up their shopping. They had just come out of a small bakery when Frodo caught sight of the small procession of two prisoners and two guards heading for the palace. The hobbit took a quick bite of the slice of bread and jam he’d gotten from inside, and then tugged on the edge of Alex’s cloak.

“Look; over there.” he said quietly, after swallowing. He pointed in the direction of the guards.

She turned to look, and immediately noticed their friends being lead away. Quickly, she took Frodo’s hand and the two of them headed after the small group, ducking into an alley when the suspicious guards looked back in their direction.

“They’re headed to the palace.” Alex whispered as she watched them continue onward.

“What could they have done to get themselves imprisoned so quickly?”

“I’m not sure…wait, I think I know.” She turned and looked to Frodo. “We have to get in there.”

“Well…I can sneak in easily enough; I know it. But what about you?” he asked.

“I don’t know…maybe I can try using the servant’s entrance? If I can find it.”

“Where shall we meet, once we’re both inside?”

“Hmm…how about right in front of the ballroom? It’s not that hard to find; the doors are huge.”

“All right. Wait…have you been there before? To the palace, I mean.”

“Yeah. But we don’t have time for that story right now.”

 “Okay. I’ll go on ahead and follow them.” He nodded to the group, who were still on bound for the palace. “I’ll see you inside.”

“All right; stay safe.” She put her hand on his shoulder for a brief moment.

Frodo drew his cloak around himself and put the hood over his head, hoping that its Elven magic would conceal him from the guards. Then, with one last glance back at what lay behind him, he headed after the group.

Alex watched him leave, and then started off on her own little trip to find the servant’s entrance. It had been a while since she’d last been to this kingdom, and to the palace. She was nervous, since she had no inkling of where the servant’s entrance might be. But she had to find it and get inside, for the sake of her friends.

A light drizzle of rain began to pour from the sky. Alex lifted her hood up and continued on. She walked around, past the palace’s front gate, which the guards, Wirt, Dipper, and hopefully Frodo had passed through. She turned left, and immediately found herself in the midst of a bustling group of servants. They were unloading a large load of deliveries; mainly food items, but also several fine pieces of furniture.

“That was easy.” Alex said to herself.

She brushed off her hands on her cloak, then walked over to one of the carts, lifted up a small bag of flour, and turned to take it inside, acting like she did this on a daily basis. No one seemed to notice her, luckily; she managed to get as far as the kitchen unseen. That is, until the head servant approached her. She was a pompous, no nonsense kind of woman, who would not tolerate anything or anyone being even the slightest bit out of line.

“Who are you?” she asked Alex. “I’ve never seen you here before.”

“Oh…uh…I’m new.” The girl smiled nervously, placing the bag of flour onto the kitchen counter and then pulling her hood down. “It’s my first day on the job. I just got here.”

“I see…” the servant looked at the list in her hand. “Then you’re Rebecca Havenheart?”

“Uh…yeah. That’s me.”

“Well then, Ms. Havenheart: you’re late.” The woman snapped. “You’ve been tasked to clean the ballroom. It’s down that way; take a left turn and head down the hall. You can’t miss it. The doors are massive. Take that bucket and rag with you. Go; go on!”

Alex quickly picked up the bucket and rag that had been sitting on the floor nearby, and ran off down the hall towards the ballroom. When she arrived, she found that Frodo was already there waiting for her. No one else was around at the moment, thankfully.

“You’re here; great!” Alex said with a sigh of relief, placing the bucket down on the floor next to the door. She tossed the rag into it, splashing water all around.

“Yes, I’m here; what’s all that about?” Frodo looked to the bucket that she had put down.

“The lady in charge of the servants gave me cleaning duty.” Alex huffed. “She wants me to scrub the ballroom floor.”

Frodo smiled a little upon hearing this. “Well…are you going to do it?” he asked her, somewhat teasingly.

“Maybe later.” She laughed a little, and then changed the subject to the more serious matter at hand. “You followed them inside, right? Did you see which way they went?”

“Follow me; I’ll show you.” He replied, turning around and leading her down the hall.

The two of them walked along for a while, passing several doors and rooms of varying sizes. They walked as quietly as possible: Frodo with ease, as stealth came naturally to hobbits, and Alex with varying degrees of difficulty, as the sound her shoes made as they trod along the fine tile flooring was quite loud. They went on like this for a while, until Frodo came to a sudden halt at the end of the hallway. Alex quickly stopped behind him, barely managing to not knock him over.

“What is it?” she asked, watching as he peered around the corner.

“Someone’s coming this way.” He whispered, turning to look back at her.

Alex walked a little closer and looked around the corner to see for herself who it was that was coming their way. She couldn’t quite tell who it was, as they were still very far down the hall, but she had a strange feeling that she knew who they were. As the person came closer, the duo ducked back around the corner.

Alex began thinking up ways that they could possibly evade the stranger, but almost all of them involved the accursed ring that Frodo had in his possession, and she felt that it might not be wise to have him use it. Frodo, meanwhile, thought that he might be able to use his cloak and sneak away, but he wasn’t sure if going off alone and leaving Alex to deal with the stranger was the best course of action at the moment.

The two of them decided to just stay put, hoping that whoever was coming would not take the turn. They waited for a few minutes, until they heard the sound of a door softly opening and closing. Then there were muffled voices.

Alex turned back around the corner to take a look. “Whoever it was, they’ve gone into one of the rooms down that hall.” She said. “The coast is clear; for now.”

“All right… if I remember correctly, the guards went this way.” Frodo said, looking to the right.

Alex, however, was not paying much attention to him just then. She was thinking about the stranger and what they were up to. She felt tempted to follow them and investigate.

She turned to Frodo and said, “Maybe we should take a look down here first; see where that person went.”

“I think it would be better if we went looking for the others first. We don’t have time to follow that stranger.” He replied.

“I know, but…that person seemed familiar. I think I know them.”

Frodo’s eyes gleamed with a slight interest, and he looked at her. “You do?”

“Yeah. I’m not sure how, but I do.”

“Well…I suppose we can stop. But only for a moment. We can’t waste time; the others may be in danger.”

“Okay. Five minutes to find out who that person was and what they were doing, and then we’ll go off and find Wirt and Dipper.”

Alex headed off to the left, towards the door that the stranger had entered moments before, with Frodo not far behind her. She soon came to the door and leaned her ear against it, listening carefully. However, the wood was too thick, and she couldn’t hear much, if anything; most of the sounds were heavily muffled.

“I don’t really want to open the door, but I don’t have much of a choice…” she sighed reluctantly, reaching for the knob. Frodo put his hand out to stop her.

“Wait. I think I have a better idea.”

“What is it?”

“I’ll put on the ring and go in; whoever’s in there, they won’t see me. I’ll watch them for a little while, then come right back.”

“But, you told me before that the ring is too dangerous to use. Besides, this isn’t _that_ important. I don’t have to know who they are.”

“It will only be for a moment; I promise. Then I’ll come back, and we’ll go find the others.”

“Well…if you’re sure it’s not going to be that dangerous, and you’re really all right with it…okay. Go ahead. I’ll wait out here.” The girl stepped back.

Frodo nodded, and without a word he slipped on the ring. Then, he opened the door and slipped inside.


	11. Imprisonment and the Prince

Wirt and Dipper had been brought into the palace and been led through some of it’s many fine halls. Dipper could have sworn that they had been followed inside, at least for a little while, although he hadn’t been able to turn around to see who was on their tail. Eventually, though, they came to the end of one long hall, which led out into another hall that branched out in two directions, left and right.

Wirt’s guard took him to the left, and walked him down the hall a ways until they arrived at a door on the left side. They went inside, and then after a few minutes, only the guard came back out.

Dipper’s guard, meanwhile, took him to the right. They walked down the hall, then made a right, and then walked down another hall. They took several turns, went down several other different halls, and down a flight of stairs until they had arrived at the palace dungeon. Dipper was taken inside, given a cell, and then left alone while the guard went off to attend to his other duties.

“Man; I hope Wirt’s going to be okay.” Dipper said to himself, although he knew for certain that this was not to be. He remembered how beaten and bruised Zephyr had left Wirt the last time they had been here. Both he and Alex had had to help Wirt walk so that they could leave the palace. Dipper knew that if Zephyr ever saw Wirt again, that the boy would likely be hurt even worse this time, or perhaps even killed, like Wirt had said.

Dipper closed his eyes and laid back against the wall in a futile attempt to try and get some sleep.

* * *

 

Wirt knew of his fate all too well, constantly thinking about it as he sat staring at the wall of his room. His eyes went to the door frequently; his stomach turned. He looked to his feet, then back at the door, slowly killing time as he waited for the imminent doom that would surely come through that door at any minute.

Minutes passed, although to Wirt, they felt like hours. Eventually, he heard footsteps coming his way; he hoped that they might pass him by. However, they stopped right in front of his door. Then, it’s handle rattled softly and the door was open.

And there he stood in the doorway: Prince Zephyr.

“Hello there, Wirt.” Zephyr smirked at him. “We meet again.”

“Yeah. I guess we do.” Wirt folded his arms and looked away from the prince, still shaking softly with nervousness.

“I’m surprised you came back, after what happened last time and all. I thought for sure that would have kept you from returning. But it looks like I was wrong.”

Wirt said nothing.

“What are you doing back in my kingdom anyway? Did you come back for more? Leave something behind? What brought you back?”

“Nothing you’d be interested in.”

Zephyr snickered, sitting down in a chair across from Wirt. “Right. Well, at least you were smart enough to actually try leaving this time. But of course, it didn’t work. You see…I had wanted posters made. Just in case you decided to come back.”

“Why?”

“Gotta keep Alex from spilling my secret somehow.” Zephyr replied. “And if arresting and messing with you or that Dipper kid, or even her, is the only way…well, okay!”

Just then, the door to the hall opened up once again. But when they turned to see who it was that was interrupting their less than joyful reunion, they saw no one there.

“Ugh.” Zephyr rolled his eyes. “Must be a draft or something.” He stood up, strode over to the door, and slammed it shut. “I need to have the servants get that fixed.” He muttered as he sat back down.

“Where were we? Oh, right.” He continued. “Speaking of Alex…where is she? Was she not with you this time? Oh, who am I kidding; she’s probably still in the kingdom somewhere. I’m surprised she let you try to leave without her, though; she seemed really worried about you last time. But whatever…where did she say she was going, Wirt? Tell me.”

“Why should I?”

“I’ll tear you up again, even worse than I did last time.” Zephyr scowled at him, his hand slowly curling up into a tight fist as he stood up from his seat. “Don’t think I won’t. Tell me where she is.”

“No.”

“You really want to do this the hard way, huh?”

“Hurt me all you want; I’m not telling you anything.”

“Are you sure? I’ve been training, you know; I’m even stronger than I was last time.”

Wirt was silent again.

“Okay…but if you don’t talk, once I get done messing around with you I have another prisoner in the dungeon to interrogate. He’ll talk, I’m sure.” The prince told him, looking to the door and then back at him.

Wirt’s eyes widened at the thought of Dipper being harassed by the prince. He did not want to subject his friend to Zephyr’s wrath, so he chose to talk. He sighed, then said,

“Okay, fine. Alex is looking for another way out of town.”

“Really, huh? Does she have any help?”

“No…why would you ask that? It was just the three of us, like last time. Dipper and I are here in the palace, so she’s alone.”

“Well…my sources say there was a fourth person in your party when your group arrived in the kingdom this evening.”

“Wait; you knew that we were here this whole time? Why didn’t you just say so?”

“To mess with you, duh. Now, who’s that fourth person? Who’s helping her, Wirt?”

“A friend.”

“Be more specific. Give me a name. I know all the other details about him already. Like that special trinket he has and all that stuff. I want to know his _name_.”

Wirt, fearing the prince’s wrath, took a deep breath and prepared to spill everything, when suddenly, out of thin air, Frodo appeared before them.

“Frodo?!” Wirt looked at him in surprise. “What are you doing here? I thought you and Alex were on your way out of town.”

“We came here looking for you. We couldn’t just leave without you.” The hobbit told him.

“Dipper too, right?”

“Of course.”

Zephyr smiled and stood up. “Frodo, huh? So, you’re the halfling that the jeweler was talking about. The one with the ring; the _special_ ring. Hand it over.” He stretched out his hand, expecting the hobbit to relinquish the trinket immediately.

“Ring?” Wirt raised an eyebrow, confused. Was there something that Frodo hadn’t told him about? Whatever it was, he would have to ask him about it later; right now, he needed to help the hobbit.

Frodo backed away, shaking his head. “No.” he said softly.

“Come on now, give it to me.” Zephyr walked towards the hobbit, looking down at him. “Unless you want things to get rough.”

“No. No!” Frodo cried, now fearful. His hand went to the ring, and he clenched it into a fist and moved it to his breast. He would not give it up so easily; he knew that he still had to destroy it, once he returned to Middle-earth.

“I’m warning you. Hand it over now, or I will hurt you.” Zephyr growled.

 “You can’t have it!” Frodo’s back was now against the wall. “You know not what power it holds!”

“It _has_ power. That’s all I need and want to know.”

Wirt suddenly flung himself between the two of them. He had to protect his friend from the hostile and violent prince.

“No!” he cried, glaring at Zephyr. “Leave him alone! You have no idea what you’re doing!”

Frodo’s other hand quickly went to Sting, which waited in the sheath at his side. Zephyr came face to face with Wirt, and then backed away for a moment before throwing a heavy punch that struck him in the nose. The boy fell back, one hand over his now bleeding nose, but then straightened back up and stumbled over to Zephyr to keep him from attacking Frodo. He kicked the prince in the shin, and then turned to the hobbit.

“Go! Run, now!” he told Frodo.

Frodo nodded, then slipped on the ring and was once again out of sight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prince Zephyr is an OC from a previous fanfic, one that I'll hopefully have up soon. You'll learn more about him and what he's talking about in that fic, once it's been posted.


	12. Confrontation

The hobbit slipped out the door and headed down the hall, stopping quickly and pulling the ring off his finger when he saw Alex coming towards him.

“What happened?” she asked him, once he was visible to her. “Who’s in there?”

“The prince. And Wirt.”

“Wirt?!” Alex quickly started past him towards the room, where the tension was still high. Frodo quickly grabbed her cloak to stop her.

Alex turned around and noticed his scared expression. She kneeled down to speak to him, face to face.

“What happened in there, Frodo?” she asked, now deeply concerned.

“It’s the prince: he…he tried to attack me. He wants the ring.” He said quietly, shaking. His voice was strained and fearful, and his breathing was quick and shallow.

Alex took his hand and gave it a small squeeze, hoping to calm him down a bit. “It’s all right, Frodo; it’s all right. You’re safe. I won’t let the prince get near you again; I promise.”

Without really thinking, she pulled him close to her and hugged him. Instead of pushing her away, however, he accepted it and hugged her back. Alex felt his breathing slow down a little, and once he seemed calm enough, she pulled away but kept hold of his hand. Quietly, he thanked her, and she gave him a small smile in return.

After composing herself, Alex looked back to the door of Zephyr and Wirt’s room and paused to think for a moment about the situation. Finally, she turned back to Frodo and said, “Okay. I’m going to go in there and help Wirt, all right?”

Frodo nodded.

“But…you can’t stay here and wait for me if the prince is after the ring; if he gets through me, he’ll come after you.” She let go of his hand, and then touched his shoulder. “You need to run, as far away as you can. Go look for Dipper. I’ll find you; Wirt will be with me…I hope.”

“All right.” Frodo nodded again. He turned to leave, but then stopped for a moment to look back at the girl.

“Please…be careful.” He told her.

“I will.”

Frodo looked at her one last time, then ran off to go find Dipper.

Alex stood up, turned back towards the room, and walked towards it. She pulled her sword from its sheath, prepared to fight if need be.

After taking a deep breath, she walked into the room, and her attention was immediately drawn to Wirt, who was now sitting on the floor, his hand still covering his bloody nose. Zephyr was standing over him.

“Get away from him!” Alex yelled, panicked.

“Ah. There she is!” Zephyr said as he turned around to face her. “Just in time!” He took a few steps towards her, a faux smile on his face.

Alex stepped back a little, and then straightened herself up as best she could and repeated herself.

“Leave him alone, Zephyr!”

Zephyr shrugged lightly in response, then stepped aside to let her pass. Alex put her sword away almost immediately and kneeled down beside Wirt, helping him sit up and covering his bloody nose with the edge of her cloak.

“Wirt…did he get you _again_?” she asked.

The boy nodded slowly, letting out a small, painful groan as he did so. Alex turned back to the prince and asked, “What’d you do that for?”

“He was in my way. Had to stop him somehow.” Zephyr stuck his hands into his pockets.

“Ugh. You jerk.” Alex huffed, undoing the clasp on her cloak, then turning back to Wirt for a moment and putting the garment into his hands. “Don’t worry, Wirt; we’ll find some way to fix you up. Until then, tilt your head back and keep your nose covered with my cloak, okay?”

She brushed her hand against his arm for a second before getting up to talk with the prince again.

“All right, Zephyr; what do you want from us?” she asked.

“I think you know exactly what I want, Alex.”

“I do?”

Zephyr rolled his eyes. “The ring. The one your little Halfling friend has. That’s what I want.”

“Oh...that. Well…you can’t have that.”

“Why not?”

“Because…you just can’t.”

“Are you sure about that? Your friend is an extremely easy target; I could have my guards capture him in less than a second, you know.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“I could and I would.”

“No! I…I won’t let you; I told him that I’d keep him safe from you. I promised!”

Zephyr laughed. “Oh, really? How sweet! It’s too bad that’s not going to be possible. Even if I don’t get him myself…once I sound the alarm, it won’t be long until one of the guards has him. He’s not safe out there by himself; you were stupid to have left him, if you really wanted to keep that promise. One snap of my fingers and he and his ring will be mine in no time at all.”

Alex felt a surge of guilt wash over her, and she closed her eyes. He was right; she was stupid to have left Frodo alone like that. And there was nothing she could do to stop Zephyr from sending out his guards…unless…

“If your guards lay a finger on him…I’ll tell everyone what you did.”

Zephyr’s eyes widened. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“I would.”

Zephyr straightened himself up, then said, “All right, I see how it is…” He stopped to think for a moment, then continued. “If you tell…Wirt dies.”

 Alex gasped. She was speechless. She covered her mouth and shook her head violently, and almost fell backwards. Tears came streaming down her face.

 “Please…please, **_no_**!” Wirt cried, scrambling over to the prince. Tears began to fill his eyes, and he looked over at Alex. “Don’t let him do this, Alex; please! **_Please_**! I don’t want…I can’t…” He started to sob before he could finish his sentence.

Alex almost couldn’t believe that Zephyr would make a threat like this. The whole thing made her feel sick and dizzy, and she quickly sat down in the closest chair in the hopes that sitting would keep her from passing out from the shock.

“Well? Do you still want to tell everyone?” Zephyr asked.

Alex looked at him, and then at Wirt, who was crying into the cloak that she had handed to him only minutes ago. She closed her eyes.

“…okay, Zephyr, you win. I won’t tell anyone.” She said, bowing her head.

Zephyr smirked. Wirt managed to stop crying, and breathed a massive sigh of relief as he dried his eyes.

“But…” Alex spoke up, opening her eyes and lifting her head to look at the prince. “There’s still no way I’m letting you have Frodo.”

“Well…I _suppose_ I can make a deal with you, since you were nice enough to not spill my little secret…”

“Great.” Alex huffed, her eyes red and puffy from crying. “Well…what is it?”

“You stay here, and fake a marriage with me. The Halfling, Wirt, and Dipper can all go free.”

Alex sat up straight. “What? Fake a marriage!? W-why would we do that? Half your castle staff knows that we hate each other, and…I-I think a few members of nobility do, too. No one would buy it.”

“Yes, yes, I know. But I have a plan. We marry, and then a few weeks later…some dirt comes up about you. Really filthy dirt. I’ll have no choice but to execute you.”

Alex felt more tears well up in her eyes, and she closed them again. But she did not speak.

“No!” It was Wirt. “You can’t!”

Zephyr ignored him and continued talking to Alex. “Everyone in this castle, except the servants, thinks that you’re a princess. All thanks to that little play you put on during your last visit. So I can’t just arrest you out of the blue for no reason…it wouldn’t make sense. Unless…” A thought suddenly came to him.

“What?” Alex sniffled and opened her eyes to look at him.

“I’ll have you arrested for a crime you actually _did_ commit. Pretending to be a princess.” Zephyr smirked. “Yeah, that’s a _much_ better idea. So…what’ll it be? Will you stay here and accept your sentence, so your friends can go free? Or will you leave them to their fates? Make your choice.”

Just then, Wirt carefully stood up, faltering just a bit. Alex noticed this. She wiped her eyes, stood up, and ran back over to him to help him steady himself.

Then, the boy took the cloth away from his nose for a moment, and said, “She’s not staying. And neither am I.” He looked at Alex, who realized what his plan was and shook her head, silently begging him not to go through with it.

But before the girl could say a word, Wirt took Alex’s hand, and in no time at all the two of them were out of the room and were running off down the hall. A few moments afterward, a fuming Zephyr followed after them.


	13. Escape From the Palace

"Wirt, are you crazy? Now we're  _both_  dead!" Alex said as they ran down the hall.

"I know. Where'd Frodo go?"

"He went off to look for Dipper; probably to the dungeon. Do you remember where that is?"

"I think so. Let's go."

They continued running down the halls of the palace, turning corners left and right, hoping to come across the dungeon soon.

* * *

 By this time, Frodo had arrived at the dungeon. Using his Elven cloak, he had managed to sneak by the guards unseen and steal the keys, and he was now searching for Dipper's cell. Eventually, he found it, towards the very back of the prison. There were no guards nearby. When Dipper saw who had come to his rescue, he got up and speedily walked over to the cell door.

"You made it! Where are Alex and Wirt?" Dipper asked. "Are they okay?"

"They're with the prince."

"The prince?!" Dipper's eyes grew wide. "Why'd you leave them with him? Don't you know what he's like?"

"Yes, I'm very aware of what he's like. But Alex told me to come find you; she chose to go in to face the prince by herself."

"But…why?"

"To save Wirt, and myself as well. Now, we must hurry; the prince will be looking for me. He knows of the ring, and is seeking it for himself."

"Do you have the key?"

"Yes." He unlocked the door and opened it as quietly as he could. "Come on." He ushered the boy out of the cell, and once he was out, closed the door and locked it again.

"Okay…how am I supposed to sneak by that guard near the main door?" Dipper asked. "I know how you can, but what about me?"

"Here," Frodo said, pulling the boy close to him, and handing him a bit of his Elven cloak for him to wrap around him. "Stay close to me, and keep the cloak around you. It should get both of us past them unseen."

"All right…if you say so." Dipper looked at the cloak uncertainly before wrapping it around himself. It was rather small; he had no idea if it would do the job. Just in case, he crouched down a bit so that he stood at the same height that Frodo did.

The two of them navigated their way through the dungeon, until they finally came to a stop near the main door. A royal guard stood watch right beside it. His eyes looked to where the two of them were standing, but thanks to the cloak's powers, they remained hidden, blending in with the wall behind them. The moment that the guard looked away, they went out the door and headed down the hall to find their friends.

* * *

The two duos eventually met up at an intersection in the halls; the very same one that Wirt and Dipper's guards had stopped at hours ago. After a small reunion, with hugs aplenty, they began to navigate their way back to the main hall.

"Well…let's at least try to get to the ballroom." Alex said, taking her now-bloodstained cloak from Wirt and putting it on again. "After that, it won't be too hard to find the way out of the castle."

"But won't Zephyr be on our trail?" Dipper asked. "Unless…you guys did something to… slow him down or…?"

"Nope; he's probably almost here." Wirt sighed. "We should get moving."

The four of them wound their way through the castle halls, until finally finding themselves back at the ballroom doors. They paused there for only a moment, before Alex led them to the kitchen, where the servants' entrance was. Hopefully, they'd be able to sneak out that way, just as Alex had (almost) snuck in.

They had barely made it inside the kitchen when they heard a woman's voice shouting. The four of them peered around the corner, one at time, to take a look at what was happening. Alex recognized the head servant; the woman was yelling at a young girl who stood in front of her. The girl appeared to be on the verge of tears.

"How dare you come here, pretending to be someone else?" the woman demanded. "Rebecca Havenheart is already working here in the palace. You are most certainly not her."

The group carefully began to walk through the kitchen, hoping they would not be seen.

"But I am! My parents sent you a letter informing you of my arrival and everything! I…" The girl's voice got quieter as the group got further and further away from the quarrel. Eventually, they had made it to the other end of the room, and they exited quietly. Soon, they were back on the streets of the castle town.

Alex looked to the ground; that was the girl whose name she had used to get into the palace earlier. She bit her lip, and a small surge of guilt came over her; she felt a little bit remorseful. But she knew that there wasn't anything she could do for the girl, and she didn't even know her anyway, so she tried her best to brush it off and kept going.

The four of them walked through the town, keeping an eye out for any potential ways out. As they had expected, all of the obvious routes were heavily guarded. Then, Dipper got an idea after eyeing a cart that was rolling through town, bound for the northern gate. He pointed it out to his companions.

"Maybe we can get a ride?" he suggested.

"You mean just jump on there? Without asking? What if we get caught?" Wirt was slightly put off by the idea. He had already been arrested once today, and wasn't keen on having it happen again.

"Well…we can't do much else." Alex sighed. "Unless there's a secret way out of town."

They decided to go for it. Alex took Frodo's hand, and Wirt took Dipper's, and the four of them ran after the cart as quickly as they could, hoping that they would not be noticed. They barely managed to hop into the back of the cart, two at a time, and once they were all safely on board, they covered themselves up. Dipper, having no cloak to hide under, hid next to Frodo beneath the hobbit's special cloak.

After a while, Wirt peered out from beneath his cloak to check and see where they were. He found that they had made it outside of the kingdom, and were now winding their way through the forests, towards whatever destination the cart driver had in mind. The boy then went back under his cloak.

Soon, all four of them had fallen asleep.


	14. Drink Your Tea

"Get up, get up! All of you!" A rather shrill voice cried, awakening the group from their slumber. They sat up almost all at once and looked around, finding themselves in front of a small cottage somewhere out in the woods. They were still in the cart, they noticed. Then, they caught sight of who had awoken them: a small old woman, who stood only a little bit taller than Frodo. She stood beside the cart, leaning on a small wooden walking stick for support. A light scowl was on her face.

"Go on, get up; get out of my cart." She said to them, waving her free hand around in the air. She watched as the four of them disembarked from the back of the vehicle. Soon, they were standing before her and staring at her, all the while staying close to one another.

"Well?" she asked. "What were you doing sleeping with my groceries?"

"We're sorry…we just wanted a ride out of there." Wirt told her. "We didn't mean to fall asleep."

"Well…why didn't you ask for a ride, instead of just hopping onto the first cart you saw? That was very rude of you."

"We had to get out of there as quickly as we could." Alex explained. "We were in a hurry."

"Yeah. We were in some serious trouble with the authorities." Dipper added.

"What kind of trouble? Are you thieves?"

"No, no…it's nothing like that…it was…" Alex trailed off.

"What?"

"The prince. He's looking for us." Frodo interjected.

"The prince, hmm? Well, that's a different story then."

"A-are you going to turn us in?" Wirt asked nervously, fearing the worst.

"No, no!" The woman's tone was now suddenly softer and warmer. "Of course not; I know how cruel that Prince Zephyr is. It seems like every other day he's imprisoning people for the most ridiculous of things…" The woman shook her head. "I'm not going to turn you in. You seem innocent enough to me."

"Then what _are_ you going to do with us?" Alex asked.

"Well…you deserve some small punishment for just jumping onto my cart like you did…" the woman tapped her chin in thought. Then, an idea came to her.

"How about the four of you do some housework for me? I need the extra help. In return, I'll give you a nice meal, get you all patched up," She looked to Wirt's bruised face. "And allow you to stay here with me for the night. Then in the morning you can be on your way. Does that sound fair?"

The four of them nodded.

"Very good. Now, you can start by unloading the cart. Once you're done with that, we'll go to the parlor; I want to get a good look at the lot of you."

The group set to work unloading the cart and taking the contents inside, with the woman overseeing them as they worked. Once they had finished, they were escorted to the parlor.

The parlor room was mainly scarlet colored, with golden accents all over. All sorts of small knickknacks and such were all over. Shelves filled with bottles of all shapes, sizes, and colors lined the walls. Small, lit candles were scattered everywhere, and in the center of the room was a small table with even more bottles on it. A loveseat and two plush chairs surrounded it. The four travelers sat down around the table while the old woman went off to make some tea; Alex and Frodo shared the couch, and Wirt and Dipper took the chairs.

"Well…this place is pretty homely…huh?" Wirt finally said, after several minutes of silence.

"It reminds me of my grandma's house." Alex said, looking around. "Only…a lot redder."

"I wonder what all of these bottles are for…" Frodo wondered aloud, reaching for one that sat on the table and picking it up to examine it.

Seconds later, they heard the old woman coming back to the parlor. Frodo quickly put the bottle back in its place. The woman then entered the room with a tea set and some cookies on a tray, and placed it down on the table in front of them. Then, she poured the tea before sitting down on the last available chair. She allowed her guests to help themselves to the sugar, milk, and cookies. Once they were all comfortable, the four of them introduced themselves to her. She returned the introductions and told them her name: Miss Wisecut. Then she began asking them several questions.

"Well…" her attention went first to Wirt, who was still looking rather worse for wear after his small scrape with the prince. The boy had yet to touch his tea. "What happened to you?"

"I was helping Frodo get away from the prince, and well…" Wirt shrugged a little. He didn't want to go into detail about the beating he had received from Zephyr only hours ago.

"Well, whatever happened: you look absolutely dreadful." Ms. Wisecut said with a small shake of her head. "But, I can fix that." She stood up and placed her cup and saucer back onto the table. Then, she had Wirt get up.

"Come with me; I'll get you all fixed up." She put a hand on his shoulder and led him down the hall. When they returned, Wirt's face was clean as a whistle, and he was holding a damp cloth to the bruise on his cheek. Ms. Wisecut patted his shoulder before he sat back down.

"Keep that cloth on your face; the potion it's been dampened with should heal your cuts and bruises quickly enough." She told him, before switching her focus to Alex. Before she could ask the girl anything, however, Frodo spoke up.

"Potions? Is that your trade?" he asked her, before taking a sip of his tea.

The woman nodded. "That's it. People come here almost every day asking for them. It can get tiring after a while." She sighed. Her attention then went back to Alex, who had just finished draining her cup of tea.

"Now you, young lady…who's blood is that on your cloak?" she asked, looking at the garment.

Alex looked down at her cloak, suddenly remembering. She made a futile attempt to clean the blood off of it. "Oh; that's Wirt's. I was using my cloak to stop his bleeding." The girl explained. Wirt nodded, confirming this.

"I see…" The woman said with a slight nod. She looked over the girl, then the hobbit, and then the young boy. However, her watchful eyes somehow overlooked Wirt. Then, after clearing her throat, she unexpectedly asked them, "Are you feeling all right?"

They looked to one another for a moment, slightly confused by this question.

"Well…now that I think about it…I'm actually starting to feel pretty lousy." Alex said, looking down.

"Me too…" Dipper added, wiping his forehead.

Frodo shivered a little. He placed his teacup on the table. "I…I don't know what's come over me, but…I feel weak."

Wirt looked at his friends, concerned and confused, before picking up his cup of tea.

"That's weird…I feel fine." He shrugged a little. "Huh…"

Miss Wisecut wiped her hands on her skirt, and then stood up. "Well…come with me, you three; I'll get you to bed. You'll be no help to me if you've fallen ill." She walked over and helped Dipper up as he began nodding off to sleep, and Alex and Frodo stood as well, trying to help each other stay on their feet. The three of them were growing weaker by the minute, it seemed. Wirt, while he was indeed very worried for his friends, chose to stay seated in his chair.

The woman quickly herded the three of them down the hall, but before leaving, turned to Wirt and said, "I'll be right back; stay here. And drink your tea."

Wirt watched them leave, and then looked at the cup in his hands. He had yet to sample the drink, and now, after what he had just seen…he didn't want to. He placed it back onto the table, pushing it away from himself as he did so. He sat in silence for a while, until the woman returned.

"I've put your friends to bed, and given them some medicine. Hopefully they'll be doing better in the morning." She told him. Her eyes went to his full teacup for a moment. "Since you seem to be doing just fine…you can get started on the housework."

Wirt sighed. "All right; what's first?"

"Clean up in here." She told him. "Take the tea set to the kitchen, down this way," she pointed to a different hallway behind her. "And wash it. I have some work to attend to, but I'll check in on you in a little while."

Wirt nodded, and then the woman left him to get started on his first task. He put the teacups and saucers back onto the tray, and then carried it out of the parlor and down the hall. Once he arrived in the kitchen, he put it on the counter, and then threw the cookies away. After that, he poured the remaining tea into the sink, used the kitchen's hand pump to get water into the sink, and then got to work washing the tea set. In a little while, he was done. Ms. Wisecut had yet to return from her work, so this gave Wirt a little time to look around the kitchen.

He walked over to the counter where a small tin of tea leaves sat. He picked it up and looked at it for a moment, then placed it back onto the counter. It was then that he noticed a small red vial sitting a few inches away from the where the tin was.

"What's this?" He asked himself. He lifted up the bottle and read the label, then quickly put it back down once he had finished. Now suddenly much more on edge than before, he quickly and carefully exited the kitchen and went back to the parlor. Then, he started down the hallway that he'd seen Ms. Wisecut take his friends down only moments ago. He walked to the end, and found a door there, slightly ajar, with dim candlelight shining out of it. He opened the door bit wider, as quietly as he could.


	15. Teamaker

Wirt looked into the room and saw three beds there; one of his friends on each of them. He entered the room on tiptoe, and walked up to Dipper's bedside first. The boy's face looked hot and sweaty, and he kept tossing and turning as he slept. Wirt looked sadly down at him, and took a moment to wipe the boy's forehead with the bedspread. But, before he could move on and visit the other two, he heard his name being called from the other room. He quickly rushed back to answer the call.

"What were you doing?" the woman asked, once Wirt had returned.

"Uh…just looking around." He replied, sticking his hands behind his back. "I didn't touch anything."

"Good." She nodded.

Wirt took a few steps back. "Well…what do you want me to do next?"

"I don't have anything else for you to help me with at the moment. Are you hungry? I was planning on starting dinner in just a bit."

Wirt shrugged his shoulders a little. "Not really…"

"All right…I suppose it's off to bed with you, then. Go down the hall, and go through the door on the left side. You should find a bed there."

"Is…that where my friends are?"

"No, no…I have them in a different room, at the very end of the hall. I don't want you sleeping with them; you might catch whatever it is they've come down with."

"I can visit them, though, right?"

"Of course; but don't take too long. I'll come by in half an hour to check on you and make sure you're in bed."

"All right. Thank you." Wirt said with a nod.

He then turned and headed back down the hall. He stopped back in at his friends' room to check up on them one last time, and after that went to the room that he'd been given. He took a few moments to look over the place, and then decided to get into bed. In a while, Ms. Wisecut came by to check up on him. He pretended to sleep, hoping that it would fool her. It did, and once she had left, he sat up in bed and began to think.

 _This lady…she's trouble. I know it._ He thought to himself. _That bottle I found…I think that's what made the others sick. She must've slipped it into the tea. That's why I didn't get sick…because I didn't drink it. I have to find the cure for that stuff, if there is one. But I think I'll wait until morning. I don't want to get caught sneaking around._

Once Wirt was sure of his decision to wait until morning, he lay down, closed his eyes, turned over, and went to sleep.

* * *

 

Wirt awoke fairly early the next morning, and as soon as he was up, he grabbed his hat and cloak and went to check on his friends. He found them wide-awake, sitting up in their beds and looking as healthy as ever. He smiled upon seeing this.

"Good morning! Are you feeling better?" he asked as he came into the room.

"Morning, Wirt." Alex said with a small wave. "We're doing better."

"Much better." Frodo nodded. "Whatever was wrong with us…I think it's gone now."

"Yeah. Hey…did that lady say anything about what might have been making us sick?" Dipper asked. "I really want to know."

"No…she didn't say anything…" Wirt said with a small frown. "But…it's great to see that you're all feeling better! That means we can still leave today like we planned, and hopefully get home."

"Not so fast!" a voice said suddenly from behind him. It was Ms. Wisecut, carrying a tray with tea and a basket of small cinnamon buns on it. She had just entered the room.

"Oh; good morning, ma'am." Wirt said, slightly surprised.

"Good morning to you as well, m'boy. Now…what's all this talk of leaving?"

"Well, you see…they're feeling better! I thought we'd be able to leave now. You know… like we were planning on doing."

The woman shook her head a little. "It's good to see that they're on the mend, but they still need some rest, even if they do feel better."

Frodo went to get out of bed. "It's really all right," he told her. "We're fine; we don't need any more rest. We've had just enough, and we really need to get going now, so…"

"No, no, no…I insist. The three of you need to stay in bed…at least until lunchtime. We'll see how you're doing then." She told him, putting the tea tray and buns down on the night table and ushering the hobbit back into bed. She pulled the covers back over him and tucked him in as though he were only a small child, much to his chagrin.

"Until then…" she went back over to the tea tray and poured the three of them some tea. "Have some tea and cinnamon buns. Wirt, there's breakfast waiting for you in the kitchen." She told the boy. "I'll be there in a moment. Go on." She waved him out.

The boy turned to leave, slightly upset because he still hadn't told his friends of the woman's true intentions and of the dangers of her tea. He started down the hall, then quickly and suddenly slid back into his room and hid. He waited until Ms. Wisecut had left their room and gone back to the kitchen, then went back to see his friends again for one more moment.

"Guys, I have to tell you something." He said to them, looking behind him for a moment to make sure he wasn't being watched.

"What is it?" Frodo asked, shortly after blowing on his tea to cool it down.

"Yeah, what?" Alex asked before taking a bite of a cinnamon bun.

"Whatever you do… _don't_ drink that tea." Wirt warned them. He walked over to Frodo, took the teacup from his hand, and put it down on the nightstand and out of his reach, much to the hobbit's surprise.

"Why not?" Dipper asked, looking into his cup for a moment. "The tea seems fine to me."

"She slipped something into it last night…that's what made you sick. She probably did it again this morning."

"How do you know?" Alex raised an eyebrow. "Did you see her do it?"

"No, but I found the potion she used on her kitchen counter, while I was cleaning up for her." He told them. "I knew it couldn't be good."

"How'd you figure all of this out?" Dipper asked him.

"Well…you guys drank the tea last night, and I didn't. And you also got sick last night, but I didn't. It just made sense; she had to have done something to the tea. There's no other explanation."

"Well…if you say so." Alex slid out of her bed and took her teacup, along with Dipper's, back over to the tea tray. After setting them down, she turned to Wirt.

"Do you think you can get us something "clean" to drink? You know, without any of that yucky potion in it?" she asked him. "I mean, since she doesn't want us getting out of bed and all that. There should be some water in our bags; you can bring us that."

"Here's an even better idea: just give her a taste of her own medicine instead, and put some of the stuff in _her_ tea." Dipper suggested. "That way we can get out of here quicker!"

Frodo shook his head. "No; we should just wait until lunchtime and see what happens. When she sees that we're still feeling well, she should let us leave. If not…well…we'll think of something." He told them. "Besides…if we poisoned her, then we'd be no better than she is."

"That's true." Alex nodded.

"Fine." Dipper huffed, crossing his arms and letting his head fall back down onto the pillows on his bed.

"Well…I'll see if I can get that water for you guys." Wirt said, changing the subject back to Alex's request. "I'll be back when I can."

"Oh, and can you bring us our stuff too?" Dipper asked, sitting back up suddenly. "If I'm gonna be stuck in a bed for the next few hours, I want to at least have something to do."

"I'll see if I can find it."

"Thanks."

"Yeah…thanks Wirt." Alex told him with a small smile. "See you in a little while."

Frodo nodded. "Yes; thank you. Be careful: if she really did put something into our tea last night…I don't want to think of what she could be planning."

"Ok; I'll be careful." Wirt said with a nod. "Bye." He said with a small wave, before turning to leave.

He headed back down the hall, and soon arrived in the kitchen. There he found Ms. Wisecut waiting for him at the kitchen table. A plate of food and a cup of tea sat waiting for him as well.

"What took you so long?" she asked him.

"Oh…well, my friends wanted me to do some things for them."

"What did they want?"

"They wanted me to get their stuff and bring it to them."

"Why would they want that?"

"Just to have it, or maybe because they were bored…I guess. Either way, I couldn't find any of their things."

"I'll get their things for them, if they really need to have them in bed. You just sit down and eat. Your food is getting cold; so is your tea."

"Uh…could I have something different to drink? I don't really like tea that much, to be honest." He lied. He was actually very fond of tea; back home, he had it at least once a day.

"I've noticed."

"Yeah." He smiled awkwardly. "So…uh…could I have something else?" he asked again, as politely as he could.

The woman sighed, standing up. "I _suppose_ …let me see what I have."

She walked into the kitchen and began to go through her pantry; she rummaged around in it for a while. While she did this, Wirt looked around, hoping to find that red bottle he'd seen the night before. Although he didn't plan on using it himself, he wanted to at least take it so that Ms. Wisecut couldn't use it on him or his friends again. Or anyone else, for that matter.

He finally caught sight of it; it was sitting there on the kitchen counter next to the tea leaves, right where it had been the night before. Now all that was left for him to do was get up and take it. He carefully stood and snuck over to the counter, reaching out a hand to take the vial. However, Ms. Wisecut noticed him.

"What are you doing?" she asked, eying his hand.

"Oh…uh…just looking at this." Wirt picked up the bottle and showed it to her.

The woman gasped when she saw it. "Now what's that doing out?" she asked, speaking to herself.

"What is it?" Wirt inquired.

"It's a bottle of the extract of red nightshade; it's used in some potions to make people sick." She explained. "But it shouldn't be sitting out here. In fact, it shouldn't have even left my potion room! Unless…" She gasped, suddenly realizing something.

"What's wrong?" Wirt asked.

"I think I know what made your friends so sick last night." She told him. "I must have mistaken this for the cold medicine!"

"Cold medicine? What were you using cold medicine on us for?" The boy raised an eyebrow.

"Well, it looked like the four of you were coming down with some nasty colds. So, I figured I ought to put some cold medicine into your tea, to help you feel better. But you see, I keep the cold medicine in a red bottle that looks exactly like this one. I must have slipped this into the tea instead last night without bothering to read the label."

"Oh…so you _weren't_ trying to poison us?" Wirt asked, surprised. His face turned red.

"Goodness no!" The woman shook her head, taking his hand. "Is that what you thought I was doing, dear?"

"Yeah…kinda."

"No wonder you haven't been drinking your tea. You've been under the impression that I was trying make you sick!" The woman quickly slipped the bottle into her apron pocket. "Oh dear…I'm so sorry for scaring you like this. I should go apologize to your friends as well…I feel simply terrible! What a silly mistake to make. And a dangerous one at that!"

"Oh…well…uh…I kind of told them that you're actually trying to poison us." Wirt confessed, looking at his feet. "On purpose, you know?"

Ms. Wisecut came over to him and put her arm around him. "It's all right dear; I don't blame you for getting so suspicious and thinking such things." She told him. "But we should go tell them the truth, immediately. And then the four of you can be on your way, just as you hoped."

Wirt and the old woman quickly headed back to the bedroom, and Ms. Wisecut explained everything to the three that were bedridden.

"So you just made a little mistake?" Alex asked. "That was all?"

"Yes; a very stupid one. If it had been poison, the three of you could have died! Luckily it was just the nightshade. It's effects wear off after a few hours." The old woman enlightened them.

"Well, that's quite a relief." Frodo said. "I was worried that you were planning to do something with us."

"Yeah." Dipper nodded. He then changed the subject. "So, uh…can we go ahead and go?"

"Of course! You can get ready to leave immediately. I noticed that you already have some food in your bags, but I'll pack a little more for you, in case you run low." Ms. Wisecut offered.

"That's very thoughtful. Thank you!" Wirt smiled.

"It's no trouble. Especially after what happened. Now, hurry and get out of bed!" She said to the other three.

The group packed up their belongings, took the food that the kind old woman offered to them, and after saying farewell to her, were soon on their way once again.


	16. The Flower Garden

The four of them walked along, and soon the old woman's cottage was completely out of sight.

"Well…that was _very_ interesting." Alex said, taking Frodo's hand. "But I've had enough of this place. I'm ready to go. How about you guys?"

Frodo nodded. "Yes, I think it's time we leave."

"Yeah. Let's go home." Wirt said.

"But…we don't know _how_ to get home from here." Dipper argued. "Where are we supposed to go?"

"Good point."

"Let's just keep walking. We'll find a way home…eventually." Alex said with a small sigh.

"Yeah. 'Eventually'." Dipper rolled his eyes a little.

They continued walking, and as they did, Wirt came up beside Frodo and Alex. Then, he decided to speak up and ask the question that had been plaguing his mind since what had happened the palace.

"So…what was that ring Zephyr was talking about?" he asked. "He seemed really interested in it."

The two of them stopped short. Alex looked down for a moment. Then, she and Frodo looked at each other. Dipper ran up beside Alex and said, "You never told him?"

"Well…" Alex began. "See…Frodo wasn't…Frodo wasn't sure if we should tell you just yet." She said to Wirt.

"Tell me what?" Wirt looked to Frodo. "What is it?"

"The ring is…it is my burden." Frodo said. "It is a dangerous weapon that I must destroy."

"Really? Well...why did Zephyr want it?"

"It gives power to anyone that wants it." Alex explained. "And it's got the ability to tempt them into stealing it by talking to them. I think it's like a sentient being or something."

"So…a lot of people want this ring?" Wirt inquired.

"Yes. But I have to destroy it." Frodo continued. "If I don't, my home…my world…everything will be…" he stopped short.

"I get it." Wirt nodded. "But…why didn't you tell me about this thing? If it's so dangerous…if you knew people were going to come after you for it…why wouldn't you say anything to me?"

"I…I wasn't sure if I could trust you." He said. "You must understand: my quest was meant to be kept a secret. The ring is dangerous. If I told just anyone, it would be at risk, as would I."

"Okay. But…you trust me now…right?"

"You defended me from the prince; you stood up for me. Of course I do."

Wirt smiled a little. "Thanks for trusting me. I won't tell anyone about the ring…I promise."

"Thank you."

Soon, the four of them came across a small, glass building in a clearing in the forest. They were rather surprised at first, although this feeling soon passed, as they had seen many stranger things throughout their journey through these woods. They decided to enter, and did so quickly and quietly. Dipper was the last to enter, and carefully shut the door behind him.

Inside the building they found flowers. Countless flowers of all sizes and kinds. Nothing but flowers as far as they could see. The blossoms' sweet, fragrant scent filled the air. They stopped to take it all in for a moment. One more short rest wouldn't hurt, after all. The four of them wandered around, admiring the blooms, resting among them, thinking…almost dozing off, at some points. The hidden garden felt safe and tranquil. They almost didn't want to leave.

Alex, although tempted to stay for a little while longer and make some flower crowns, soon felt that it was time for them to go. The place was beginning to give her a strange, uneasy feeling. She soon found Frodo, who sat dozing beside a large bush of lilies. Carefully, she took his hand, awakening him from his light slumber, and helped him stand up. The two of them then tried their best to navigate the suddenly maze-like garden, searching for their two companions. Before they found Wirt and Dipper, however, they found a door. Not the same door they had entered, but a different one; they assumed that they must now be at the other side of the greenhouse. Alex grasped the handle, and began to push down on it, but then suddenly stopped to call out the names of their friends. They couldn't leave without them.

"Wirt! Dipper! We found a door!" She said loudly. She waited for a moment, and suddenly Dipper burst through a nearby rose bush. His arms and face were covered in scratches from the thorns.

"Where's Wirt?" Alex asked, before the boy could say anything.

"Right here." Alex turned to see the other boy standing there, his hat upside down in his hands, filled with flowers; like a bouquet. Not really knowing what else to do, Alex giggled a little at the sight, before turning her attention back to the task at hand. She turned back to the door. Frodo had one hand on the handle, ready to open it.

"Shall we?" he asked.

Alex nodded.

He opened the door, and the four of them quickly stepped over the threshold.

* * *

 

They found themselves, not in the woods, but in a small, charming house. The older three did not recognize the abode, but Dipper did.

"Wait a second…this is…this is…Lil' Gideon's house?!" the boy brushed past his companions and looked around in confusion and surprise at the small cottage. Cutesy, kitschy décor was placed all around, and at least one picture of the fraudulent psychic Lil' Gideon sat on each wall.

"Isn't he that kid that you said was bugging Mabel all the time?" Wirt asked.

"Yeah…this is his house. But he's in jail, though, so we don't have to worry about running into him."

"What about his parents?"

Dipper paused for a moment. "You're right; his dad could show up any minute. We should go."

The four of them quietly and carefully snuck through the house, making sure not to touch anything. They managed to make it out the door and down the street without any problems, and found themselves right back where they had started: the town of Gravity Falls.

"We made it." Alex sighed in relief. "We're back."

"Finally." Wirt said.

"I wasn't sure we would make it back." Frodo admitted.

"Well…we did."

"I'm still really confused. Gideon's house has a portal in it that leads to Wiral? Who'd have thought…" Alex looked back towards the Gleeful residence for a moment.

"This town gets weirder every day." Dipper said. Suddenly, he stopped. The other three did as well.

"What's wrong?" Alex asked.

"Uh…so…do you guys think I should go back to the Shack? I mean…I gotta face Mabel, Soos, and Stan sometime. And besides…I feel really stupid for running off the way I did. It was a bad idea."

"Well…you can if you want, I guess…" Alex began. "But you don't have to if you don't want to. They'll understand if you need some more time."

"Whatever you decide to do, we'll be fine with it." Wirt told him. Frodo nodded.

"Okay. Thanks guys." Dipper smiled a little.

"Well…what do you want to do?" Frodo asked him.

"I think I'm gonna go back. They're probably really worried about me."

Alex smiled and took the boy's hand. "Ok. Come on; we'll walk you home."

And with that, the four of them walked hand in hand, glad to back in a familiar place, now bound for the Mystery Shack.

**END**


End file.
